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ON    THE    RAMPARTS. 

Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  it  is  our  home  where'er  thy  colors  Ay, 
We  win  with  thee  the  victory,  or  in  thy  shadow  die !  " 


THE    STORY    OF 

THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER 


IN    WAR   AND    PEACE 


BY 

ELBRIDGE   S.    BROOKS 

AUTHOR   OF 

THE  STORY  OF   THE  AMERICAN  INDIAN  AND   THE  STORY 
OF  THE  AMERICAN  SAILOR 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1889, 

BY 
D.    LOTHROP  COMPANY. 


PRESS  OF  BERWICK  &  SMITH, 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


PREFACE. 


THE  simple  story  of  the  American  soldier  has  never  yet  been  told.  Whoever 
wishes  to  know  him  as  a  man  must  study  numerous  confusing  episodes, 
search  through  voluminous  histories  or  sift  out  the  man  from  the  material  in 
the  crowding  records  of  innumerable  battles. 

This  is  more  labor  than  the  busy  American  cares  to  undertake,  much  as 
he  may  delight  in  the  records  of  American  valor  and  American  endeavor. 
It  is  to  attempt  this  for  him,  to  draw  from  the  mass  of  material  already  in 
print  the  character  and  achievements  of  the  fighting  man  of  America  even 
from  the  earliest  times  and  to  present  them  in  consecutive  and  connected 
narrative  that  this  book  has  been  undertaken. 

The  description  of  battles  and  the  causes  of  wars  have  not  been  entered 
into.  These  may  be  found  and  studied  in  detail  in  any  one  of  the  many 
excellent  histories  of  the  United  States  with  which  the  libraries  and  homes  of 
America  abound.  In  this  book  the  American  soldier  as  an  individual  is 
depicted  for  the  enlightenment  and  inspiration  of  Americans  —  young  and  old. 

War  is  a  terrible  necessity.  Looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  humanity 
there  is  about  it  neither  picturesqueness,  nobility,  romance  nor  delight ;  it  is 
but  the  emphasis  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man.  And  yet  there  is  another 
point  of  view.  War  has  been  in  the  history  of  the  world  alike  civilizer,  peace- 
maker and  uplifter.  There  could  have  been  no  progress  for  the  race  had  the 
element  of  strife  been  lacking.  The  efforts  of  those  heroic  souls 

"  Who  have  dared  for  a  high  cause  to  suffer,  resist,  fight  —  if  need  be  to  die," 

have  rung  the  death-knell  of  tyranny  and  moved  the  world  forward  toward  a 
broader  freedom. 

And  so,  through  all  the  years  that  have  witnessed  the  evolution  of  the 
American  Republic,  the  American  soldier  has  been  a  prime  factor  in  this 
development.  His  valor  has  illumined  history,  his  steadfastness  has  redeemed 
failure,  his  loyalty  has  glorified  success.  It  is  for  us  as  Americans  to  remem- 
ber our  debt  to  the  heroes  of  Louisburg  and  Quebec,  of  Lexington  and 
Saratoga  and  York  town,  of  Lundy's  Lane  and  New  Orleans,  of  Shiloh  and 
Gettysburg  and  Appomattox.  Without  their  efforts  there  would  have  been 
no  nation  of  freemen  with  sons  ready  to  defend  its  honor  and  its  life,  there 
would  have  been  no  America  to  need  or  to  have  a  soldier 


9617    ' 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

AN    OVERTURE   OF    STRIFE ...          II 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE    CONQUISTADORES •       .          32 

CHAPTER    III. 

COLONIAL     FIGHTING-MEN 56 

CHAPTER    IV. 

MINUTE-MEN    AND    CONTINENTALS 78 

CHAPTER   V. 

SOLDIERS    OF    LIBERTY 98 

CHAPTER  -VI. 

THE    TROOPS    OF    DISCONTENT 121 

CHAPTER   VII. 

A    LEADERLESS    WAR 143 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

WARS    AND    RUMORS    OF    WAR l66 

CHAPTER    IX. 

OVER    THE    MEXICAN    BORDER .       190 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    X. 

HORSE,  FOOT  AND  DRAGOON  .."......, 214 

CHAPTER    XI. 
BOYS  OF   'SIXTY-ONE 232 

CHAPTER    XII. 

FROM    SHILOH    TO    APPOMATTOX „ 255 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

BOOTS    AND    SADDLE 2/5 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   VETERAN    SOLDIER 204 

THE    ACHIEVEMENTS    ()[•     THE    AMERICAN    SOLDIER        ......  313 

THE    BEST    HUNDRED    BOOKS    ON    THE    AMERICAN    SOLDIER           .       .       .  338 

IN"DEX • 345 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PACK 
On  the  ramparts      . L.  J.  Bridgman.     Fronds. 

Initial  —  A  war  chief  of  the  Mound- Builders .  u 

Indians  attacking  the  mounds         . 14 

"  lie  halted  and  turned  toward  the  enemy  "   .         .         .         L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  2\ 

"  I  >eath  to  the  Mun-dua ! "      .         . .  27 

Initial  —  A  Conquistador 32 

DC  Soto           .         .         .                  .V      ......                  ...  34 

"  For  Santiago  and  Spain ! "                             ...                 .....  37 

Coronado's  march           . L.  J.  Bridgman        .        .  43 

The  first  white  man .  53 

The  revolt  of  the  train-bands tf.T.  Smedlcy           .         .  60 

Franklin  as  a  private       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  65 

A  muster  of  Colonial  militia  on  Boston  Common  .         .         /'.   T.  Merrill            .         .  73 

"  They  hung  on  the  skirts  of  the  retreat  "...         //»'.  SanJham             .         .  82 

(ireen  Mpimtain  Boys  on  the  march        ...                  L.  J.  Bridgman         .  85 

The  minute-men       ...                            ...         Ify.  Sandham             .         .  87 

"  The  British  are  coming ! "    .                  .         .         .         .         L.  J.  Bridgman        .         .  93 

The  Cambridge  elm        ...                  96 

The  battle  of  Oriskany 103 

Marion  and  his  men L.  J.  Bridgman                  .  105 

Washington  reviewing  the  Continental  Army .  112 

(f'ratti  a  fainting  by  J .  S.   Thompson.) 

A  garrison  of  two .         L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  117 

"  Peace  by  no  means  brought  satisfaction  " 123 

\  >  fees,  no  executions,  no  sheriff !"    . 129 

Sentinel  and  ploughman 133 

The  battle  of  Tippecanoe L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  135 

Anthony  Wayne 139 

Initial  —  James  Wilkeson                 •.                           143 

At  work  on  the  fortifications  in  1812 147 

Captain  Hindman  at  Fort  George           ....         L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  153 

Packenham's  charge 158 


x  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Andrew  Jackson     . 163 

The  backwoods  soldiers 169 

In  the  "  anti-rent  war  " 182 

Caricaturing  the  militia          .  .         .         .         .         .         .         L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  185 

The  battle  of  Buena  Vista      .         .         .         .         .         .         L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  2or 

Marcy's  perilous  march            .         .         .         .         .         .         L.  J.  Bridgman         .       '  .  223 

Good-by           ...............  235 

Our  brother  the  enemy             .          .          .          .          .          .          L.  J.  Bridgman         .          .  241 

In  the  recruiting  office              .........'...  246 

Working  for  the  soldiers 251 

Initial  —  The  heat  of  battle  ......         Kemblc      ....  255 

Stannard's  charge  at  Gettysburg     ...........  258 

"  Do  you  want  to  live  forever  ?".......         ....  263 

Morgan's  raiders 267 

After  the  battle       ........         Kemble      .         .         .         .  271 

"  The  home-coming  of  the  Southern  soldiers  "       .         .         Kemble      ....  278 

Custer's  last  stand           .         .         .         .         .         .         .         L,  J.  Bridgman         .         .  283 

Once  more  a  civilian        ..............  289 

Initial  —  G.  A.  R.  Post  56 294 

The  story  of  the  fight IV.  7'.  Smedley          .         .  297 

The  old  flag     .                  L.  J.  Bridgman         .         .  303 


THE     STORY     OF 


THE    AMERICAN     SOLDIER 


THE    STORY    OF 


THE   AMERICAN    SOLDIER. 


CHAPTER    I. 


AN    OVERTURE    OF    STRIFE. 


AWFCKieF 

}          of  the 


ITHIN  that  section  of  South- 
ern Ohio  where  now  stretches 
the  pleasant  County  of  Ross, 
there  was  enacted,  a  thousand 
years  ago,  a  strange  and  stir- 
ring scene. 

Against  the  almost  inky 
blackness  of  an  autumn  night 
blazed  up  suddenly,  with 
flash  and  flare,  the  climbing 
flame  of  a  beacon  fire.  Its 

fitful  glare,  swayed,  now  this  way  and  now  that,  by  the  keen 
November  blasts,  threw  into  sudden  relief  a  looming  watch- 
tower  and  a  long  line  of  frowning  battlements  that,  topped 
with  a  ragged  palisade,  crested  a  sharply  rising  hill  and 
stretched  far  away  into  the  encircling  gloom. 

Another  and  yet  another  flaming  beacon  answer  the  summons 
of  fire.  One  to  the  right  and  one  to  the  left,  and  each  a  mile 
or  more  away  from  the  central  beacon,  they  light  up  the  inky 


12  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

ni^ht.     There  conies  a  stir  behind  those  walls  of  stone.     The 

o 

sharp,  quick  rallying  cry  sounds  out.  A  long  line  of  hurry- 
ing forms  spring  to  the  solid  ramparts,  which,  rising  to  the 
height  of  ten  feet,  and  with  a  width  of  more  than  thirty 
feet,  afford  standing  place  and  fighting  room  for  an  army  of 
defenders. 

Behind  the  palisades  they  gather,  wary  and  watchful,  with 
bows  drawn  and  spears  poised  for  the  fling.  Schooled  to  the 
ways  of  savage  warfare  the  night  surprise  has  found  them 
ready  and  alert.  They  live  upon  their  arms. 

From  the  watchers  on  the  outer  towers  comes  now  the  shrill 
cry  of  warning.  They  see  the  foe.  Beyond  the  flickering  rim 
of  light  a  mass  of  crowding  forms  has  been  descried  —  a  host 
of  naked,  be-feathered  warriors,  dodging  here  and  there  behind 
the  giant  tree-trunks,  or  drawing  stealthily  nearer  to  the  rising 
wall  of  that  towering  hill-fort. 

O 

And  now  with  a  long,  rising  whoop  of  defiance  that  grows 
to  a  terrible  and  blood-curdling  yell  as,  one  after  another, 
the  myriad  throats  of  that  beleaguering  host  take  up  the 
cry,  the  mass  of  naked  warriors  rush  madly  within  the  glare 
of  the  beacon  fire  and  discharge  a  storm  of  arrows  against 

o  o 

the  palisades.  From  the  watchful  defenders  comes  an  answer- 
ing shower  of  arrows  and  of  spears,  while  through  the  central 
entrance  swarm  out  in  sudden  sortie  an  attacking  force  of 

o 

stalwart  fighting  men. 

These  defenders  of  the  beleaguered  fort  are  dressed,  each,  in 
a  belted  blouse  of  woven  cloth  that  falls  nearly  to  the  knee. 
The  left  arm  of  each  long-haired  soldier  upholds  a  matted  shield  ; 
his  right  hand  firmly  grasps  a  long  and  deadly  spear.  Their 
bravest  war-chief  leads  the  sortie  out.  A  leathern  -buckler, 
edged  with  silver  and  gleaming  with  its  copper  boss,  protects 


AN  OVERTURE   OF  STRIFE.  13 

his  breast;  an  iron  sword,  broad  and  sharply-pointed,  waves 
above  his  head  in  encouragement  and  command,  and  at  his  side 
dangles  its  copper  scabbard. 

In  close  array  and  with  something  of  martial  order  the  sol- 
diers of  the  fort  dash  on  to  the  charge,  following  the  feathered 
plume  and  brandished  sword  of  their  gallant  chief.  Straight 
into  that  host  of  beleaguering  savages  they  dash,  regardless  of 
the  flying  arrow  and  the  whirling  hatchet.  Then,  with  yell  and 
whoop,  true  to  the  tactics  of  savage  strife,  the  horde  of  naked 
assailants  disappears  in  the  gloom  only  to  swarm  again  before 
some  less  defended  point  —  there  to  let  fly  their  cloud  of  arrows 
at  the  defenders  behind  the  palisades. 

Through  the  long  night  again  and  again  are  the  assault  and 
the  defense,  the  sortie,  flight  and  fresh  attack  renewed.  Then, 
with  the  dawn,  the  beleaguering  host  fades  away  into  the  forest 
fastnesses.  And,  as  the  morning  sun  rises  above  that  Ohio  hill, 
the  wearied  warriors  within  the  fortified  town  prostrate  them- 
selves toward  the  east  and  offer  their  thanks  and  sacrifices  to 
the  great  sun-god  who  has  given  them  the  victory. 

Thus,  then,  as  the  curtain  of  the  centuries  is  rolled  aside  for 
us,  do  we  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  earliest  American  soldier  — 
the  earliest,  at  least,  worthy  the  name  of  soldier,  who  with  some- 
thing of  order  and  the  show  and  circumstance  of  war  could  do 
such  desperate  battle  in  defense  of  fortress  and  of  home.  It 
is,  for  us,  an  insight  into  the  ways  and  manners  of  that  long- 
vanished  and  mysterious  people  known  now  but  vaguely  under 
the  uncertain  name  of  the  Mound  Builders  —  a  name  given 
only  because  of  the  fast  disappearing  ruins  of  the  marvelous 
works  of  engineering  skill  that  they  so  long  and  valiantly 
defended  against  the  ceaseless  assaults  of  a  relentless  savagery. 

The  fighting-man  is  as  old  as  the  human  race.     The  com- 


I4  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

bative  quality  in  men  and  nations  has  never  lacked  a  represen- 
tative. Wherever  rivalry  has  been  engendered  or  ambition  has 
had  birth  the  man  of  war  has  ever  and  always  resulted.  "  All 
antiquity,"  says  Renan,  "  was  cruel."  No  nation  exists  that  does 
not  rest  on  the  foundation  stones  of  strife  and  blood. 

The  American  people  form  no  exception  to  the  rule.     Their 


INDIANS    ATTACKING    THE    MOUNDS. 


prehistoric  story  is  written  in  strife  and  told  in  eras  of  conflict. 
Evolved  from  savagery  through  long  centuries  of  struggle  and 
of  warfare  the  early  Americans  were  ever  at  strife  and  grew, 
apparently,  only  through  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 


.-l.V  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE.  15 

The  stronsr  man  and   the  war  chief  were  leaders  and  rulers  in 

O 

our  prehistoric  days. 

Invaded  mound  and  rifled  tumulus  yield,  always,  among 
their  meager  spoil  the  inevitable  arrow-head  of  flint  or  chalced- 
ony or  hard  obsidian.  The  shell-heaps  and  "  kitchen-middens," 
that  speak  of  a  stage  of  human  existence  yet  nearer  to  the 
brute,  disclose,  amid  their  crumbling  dust,  hatchet  and  arrow- 
head, dagger  and  knife  of  rough-hewed  stone,  while,  alongside 
the  half-fossilized  human  remains  that  speak  of  an  almost  fab- 
ulous antiquity  for  the  American  race,  have  been  found  the 
stone  war-club  and  the  beveled  lance-head  that  tell,  ever,  the 
self-same  story  of  conflict  and  of  blood. 

Dating  thus  backward  to  the  very  beginning  of  things  the 
American  fighting-man  has  always  been  a  product  of  American 
soil.  There  can,  however,  but  little  real  identity  attach  to  his 
story,  until,  from  the  uncertain  testimony  of  the  Western 
mounds  and  from  the  more  credible  legends  of  the  red  Indian 
who  was  the  heir  of  all  the  ages  that  here  preceded  him  we 
obtain  our  first  tangible  impression  of  the  early  American 
"soldier." 

And  a  soldier  this  same  red  barbarian  was,  despite  his  forest 
tactics  and  his  ignorance  of  the  real  "  art  "  of  war. 

War  was  the  Indian's  second  nature;  it  was  his  business,  his 
pastime  and  his  life.  To  attain  the  eagle's  feather  was  his 
highest  aim  ;  to  achieve  the  seat  of  the  war  chief  by  the  suf- 
frages of  his  comrades  was  the  end  of  all  ambition.  The  brave 
at  home  was  but  a  lazy  fellow,  scorning  manual  labor  and  deem- 
ing toil  as  unsuited  to  one  whose  duty  it  was  to  become  a  hero. 

Hut  on  the  war-path  and  in  the  forest  foray  he  was  a  far  dif- 
ferent creature.  Then,  no  toil  was  too  severe,  no  exertion  was 
too  harsh.  Intent  on  the  surprise  and  capture  of  his  hereditary 


1 6  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

foeman  he  brought  into  play  all  his  knowledge  of  woodcraft,  all 
his  varied  schooling  in  skill  and  cunning.  With  untiring 
patience  and  with  an  ability  that  was  almost  ge'nius  he  read  the 
language  of  broken  twig  and  trodden  grass,  of  disturbed  stream 

o        o  o  <-* 

and  of  uncertain  trail.  The  story  of  the  intertribal  wars  of  the 
American  Indian,  could  this  but  be  fitly  told,  would  possess  as 
much  of  courage,  of  endurance  and  of  artifice  as  is  to  be  found 

O      ' 

in  any  mythical  tradition  of  Troy's  ensanguined  plains  or  in 
the  stirring  legends  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

The  Roman  Horatius,  swimming  the  turbid  Tiber,  is  fully 
paralleled  by  that  brave  Ojibway  father  who,  burning  to  revenge 
the  death  of  his  warrior  son,  flung  himself  —  "  with  his  harness  on 
his  back  "  —  into  the  vaster  waters  of  the  "  Great  Lake  "  (Supe- 
rior) and  swam  a  distance  of  over  two  miles,  from  the  island  of 
La  Pointe  to  the  mainland,  to  join  in  the  deadly  battle  that  his 
tribe  was  waging  against  the  hostile  Dakotas. 

Ga-geh-djo-wa  the  Seneca  —  the  warrior  with  the  heron's 
plume  in  his  crest  —  is  the  fiery  Henry  of  Navarre  of  the 
American  forests.  The  braves  of  the  warlike  Iroquois  outshone 
in  valor  and  endurance  the  legionaries  of  a  triumphant  Caesar, 
the  spearmen  of  an  Attila  or  an  Alexander.  "  When  you  go 
to  war,"  runs  the  old  Ute  proverb,  "  every  one  you  meet  is  an 
enemy;  kill  all!  "  WTas  not  this,  too,  the  policy  of  a  Hannibal, 
a  Pompey  and  an  Alaric  ? 

Among  the  Indians  in  the  old  days  there  were  no  impress- 
ments, there  were  no  conscripts.  All  were  volunteers.  The 
American  warrior  was  a  free  man. 

But  the  enlistment  was  unique.  The  plan  of  operations  was 
according  to  a  set  form,  as  binding  as  were  ever  those  of  any 
marshal  of  France  or  any  paladin  of  Spain.  Let  this  glimpse 
at  the  military  life  of  the  Omahas  show  us  the  aboriginal 


AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE.  17 

American  soldier  as  he  existed  among  the  pre-Columbian  tribes 
of  the  higher  order  of  intelligence. 

Wa-ba-ska-ha  the  Ponka  had  suffered  a  great  wrong  at  the 
hands  of  the  Pawnees.  His  honor  and  the  honor  of  his  tribe 
demanded  swiftest  vengeance.  But  the  initial  move  could 
only  come  from  \Va-ba-ska-ha  himself.  He  and  none  other 
must  organize  a  war  party. 

With  his  face  bedaubed  with  clay,  to  indicate  his  grief,  Wa- 
ba-ska-ha  wandered  among  the  lodges  of  his  people.  And  as 
he  wandered  he  cried,  thus  and  often,  to  W7a-kan-da,  the  protect- 
ing spirit  of  the  Omahas :  "  O,  Wa-kan-da !  though  others  have 
injured  me,  do  thou  help  me !  "  And  the  people,  hearing  his 
appeal,  said:  "What!  would  you  lead  out  a  war-party,  Wa- 
ba-ska-ha  ?  Who  has  wronged  you  ?  Let  us  hear  your  story.'* 
And  then  he  would  recite  his  wrongs  until  all  his  tribe  was  ac- 
quainted with  his  story. 

Thereupon  four  messengers,  friends  of  Wa-ba-ska-ha,  ran  as 
criers  through  the  village,  calling  out  the  name  of  each  warrior 
and  bidding  him  come  to  an  assembly.  And  when  all  the  chiefs 
and  warriors  were  gathered  together,  the  war-pipe  was  filled 
and  Wa-ba-ska-ha,  stretching  out  his  hands  in  appeal  to  his 
people,  said,  '*  Pity  me,  my  brothers  ;  do  for  me  as  you  think 
best." 

Then  said  the  chief  who  filled  the  sacred  pipe  :  "  If  you  are 
willing,  O  warriors,  for  us  to  take  vengeance  on  the  Pawnees, 
put  this  pipe  to  your  lips.  If  you  are  not  willing,  put  it  not  to 
your  lips."  And  every  man  placed  the  sacred  pipe  to  his  lips 
and  smoked  it.  Thus  they  volunteered  for  the  foray,  and 
\Ya-ba-ska-ha  was  glad.  Then  said  the  chief,  "  Now,  make  a 
final  decision.  Say  you,  O  warriors,  when  shall  we  take  this 
vengeance?"  And  one  of  the  warriors  made  answer:  "O 


1 8  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

chief,  the  summer  comes  ;  let  us  eat  our  food.  When  the  leaves 
fall  we  will  take  vengeance  on  the  Pawnees." 

This  was  the  voice  of  the  whole  assembly.  But  Wa-ba-ska-ha 
would  not  let  the  matter  rest.  Through  the  whole  summer,  by 
day  and  by  night,  and  even  while  they  accompanied  the  people 
on  the  summer  hunt,  his  four  messengers,  or  captains,  were 
continually  crying  out :  "  O  Wa-kan-da  !  pity  me  !  Help  me  in 
that  which  keeps  me  angry."  And  they  would  fast  through  all 
the  day  ;  only  in  the  night  would  they  eat  and  drink. 

Then,  when  the  hunt  was  over,  Wa-ba-ska-ha  gave  the  war- 
party  a  feast  at  his  lodge ;  and  the  four  captains  sat  before  the 
entrance  while  two  messengers  sat  on  either  side  the  door. 
And  as  they  ate  and  drank  and  sang  the  sacred  war-songs  they 
determined  upon  what  day  the  war-path  should  be  taken.  And 
the  five  sacred  bags,  filled  with  red,  blue  and  yellow  feathers, 
and  consecrated  to  the  war-srocl,  were  distributed  amon°f  the 

O  O 

chiefs  or  leaders  of  the  clans  of  the  tribe. 

The  day  having  been  set  the  leaders  of  the  war-party  selected 
their  lieutenants  and  assigned  to  each  of  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe 

O 

a  company  of  twenty  warriors.  Secretly  and  at  night  all  the 
warriors  who  had  volunteered  for  the  fight  slipped  out  of  their 
lodges  and  each  company  met  its  chief  at  a  rendezvous  agreed 
upon.  Here  they  blackened  their  faces  with  charcoal  or  mud 
and  fasted  for  four  days.  And  when  the  four  days  were  past 
they  washed  their  faces,  put  plumes  in  their  hair  and  gathering 
around  the  principal  captains  watched  the  opening  of  the 
sacred  bags.  Twenty  policemen  were  appointed  to  keep  the 
stragglers  to  their  duty  and  four  scouts  were  sent  ahead,  keep- 
ing from  two  to  four  miles  in  advance  of  the  party. 

Directly  after  breakfast  the  war-party  commenced  its  march. 
First  came  two  of  the  minor  captains,  bearing  the  sacred  bags. 


AN  OVERTURE   OF  STRIFE.  19 

A  hundred  yards  behind  marched  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe,  and 
following  them  came  the  warriors.  Frequent  halts  for  rest 
were  made  but,  when  resting,  the  party  must  always  keep 
close  together  to  avoid  surprise. 

When  the  scouts  had  met  the  captains  at  a  point  agreed 
upon  and  made  their  report  as  to  traces  of  the  enemy  or  of 
game  other  scouts  were  appointed  in  their  place  and  the  march 
went  on. 

So,  under  bright  skies  or  beneath  cloudy  ones,  the  Ponkas 
advanced  toward  their  vengeance.  Along  the  forest  trails  and 
across  the  grassy  meadows,  ablaze  with  the  nodding  flowers  of 
the  early  fall,  they  pressed  straight  on.  But  neither  sky  nor 
flower  won  any  thought  from  them.  And  as  they  neared  their 
foe  those  who  were  hot  for  revenge  grew  still  more  fierce  and 
counseled  their  comrades  to  valorous  deeds.  Chief  among 
these  was  Wa-ba-ska-ha ;  for  as  the  warriors  marched  he 
sprang  in  a  furious  dance  before  and  around  them, singing  thus: 

"O  make  us  quicken  our  steps  ! 

0  make  us  quicken  our  steps  ! 
Ho,  C)  war-chief!     When  I  see  him 

1  shall  have  my  heart's  desire  ! 

O  war-chief,  make  us  quicken  our  steps  ! " 

And  after  he  had  thus  sung  he  shouted  to  the  listening 
warriors :  "  Ho,  brothers,  I  have  said  truly  that  I  shall  have  my 
heart's  desire  !  Truly,  brothers,  they  shall  not  detect  me  at  all. 
I  am  rushing  on  without  any  desire  to  spare  a  life.  If  I  meet 
one  of  the  foe  I  will  not  spare  him." 

Each  night  when  they  camped  for  rest  and  sleep  the  four 
scouts  would  go  out  about  a  mile  from  the  camping  ground  — 
one  toward  the  enemy's  country,  one  to  the  rear,  and  one  to 
either  side  of  the  camp.  And,  before  the  warriors  lay  down  to 


2o  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

sleep,  the  "  mikasi  "  or  coyote  dance,  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of 
all,  would  be  engaged  in  by  all  except  the  captains. 

Before  sunrise,  each  morning,  the  camp  was  awake  ;  break- 
fast was  hastily  eaten  and  the  day's  march  resumed.  At  last 
the  wary  scouts  far  in  advance  sighted  the  village  of  the  enemy 
and  hastening  back  made  their  report.  The  sacred  bags  were 
opened,  the  scalp  yell  was  raised  and  each  warrior  boasted  anew 
of  how  he  should  conduct  himself  when  he  met  the  foe.  And 
here,  as  the  height  of  courage,  Na-jin-ti-ce,  the  chief,  the  friend 
of  Wa-ba-ska-ha,  changed  his  name  before  the  battle  and  bade 
the  crier  so  proclaim  it.  And  the  crier,  lifting  his  hands  first 
toward  the  skies  and  then  dropping  them  toward  the  earth, 
thus  proclaimed  it ;  "  Thou  deity  on  either  side,  hear  it ;  hear 
ye  that  he  has  taken  another  name.  He  will  take  the  name 
Nu-da-nax-a  (Cries-for-the-war-path),  halloo  !  Ye  big  head-lands, 
I  tell  you  and  send  my  voice  that  ye  may  hear  it,  halloo  !  Ye 
clumps  of  buffalo  grass,  I  tell  you  and  send  it  to  you  that  ye 
may  hear  it,  halloo  !  Ye  big  trees,  I  tell  you  and  send  it  to 
you  that  ye  may  hear  it,  halloo !  Ye  birds  of  all  kinds  that 
walk  and  move  on  the  ground,  I  tell  you  and  send  it  to  you 
that  ye  may  hear  it,  halloo !  Ye  small  animals  of  different  sizes, 
that  walk  and  move  on  the  ground,  I  tell  you  and  send  it  to  you 
that  ye  may  hear  it,  halloo!  Thus  have  I  sent  to  you  to  tell 
you,  O  ye  animals  !  Right  in  the  ranks  of  the  foe  will  he  kill 
a  very  swift  man  and  come  back  after  holding  him,  halloo  ! 
He  has  thrown  away  the  name  Na-jin-ti-ce  and  will  take  the 
name  Nu-da-nax-a,  halloo  !  " 

Now  that  the  enemy  had  been  discovered  all  was  interest  and 
action.  The  scouts  were  sent  forward  to  count  the  lodges  and 
discover  whether  the  foemen  were  asleep  or  awake  —  for  it  was 
nightfall.  Then  one  of  the  chiefs  went  himself  to  make  a  final 


HE   HALTED   AND   Tl'KNKU  TOWARD  THK   ENEMY." 


AN  OVERTURE   O*  STRIFE.  23 

examination.  And  at  midnight,  when  all  were  ready,  they 
moved  stealthily  forward  ;  going  by  twenties,  each  warrior  hold- 
ing the  hand  of  the  man  next  him,  they  crawled  toward  the 
Pawnee  village.  Within  arrow-shot  of  the  village  they  halted, 
talking  in  whispers  and  exhorting  each  other  to  deeds  of 
bravery.  Just  at  daybreak,  the  leading  war-chief  drew  his  bow 
and  sent  an  arrow  toward  the  sleeping  foe.  Its  flight  could 
be  distinctly  seen  by  all  the  watching  warriors.  The  time  for 
the  attack  had  arrived.  The  war-chief  waved  the  sacred  bag 
four  times  toward  the  enemy,  he  shouted  his  war-cry  and  at  once 
the  warriors,  raising  the  scalp-yell,  let  fly  their  arrows. 

That  terrible  yell,  familiar  to  Indian  ears,  roused  the 
sleepers.  Snatching  at  their  ever-ready  weapons  they  rushed 
out  into  the  chill  morning  air.  Too  late !  The  surprise  was 
complete.  Every  surrounding  tree-trunk  sheltered  a  Ponka 
brave.  Now  from  this  quarter,  now  from  that  dashed  out  a 
hostile  foeman  to  strike  down  or  capture  an  unwary  Pawnee. 
First  to  strike  down  and  first  to  drag  away  his  fallen  foeman 
was  Wa-ba-ska-ha.  His  vengeance  had  begun. 

For  an  instant  the  Pawnees  gained  the  advantage.  Mass- 
ing themselves  for  a  rush  they  dashed  against  their  enemy 
discharging  their  arrows  as  they  ran. 

The  Indian  could  seldom  stand  before  a  combined  assault. 
His  tactics  were  those  of  ambuscade  and  covert.  The  Ponkas 
fled  before  the  Pawnee  onset.  But  even  as  they  ran  Wa-ba- 
ska-ha  heard  the  cry  :  "  Nu-da-nax-a  is  killed  !  " 

The  bond  of  kinship  was  stronger  than  the  fear  of  capture. 
He  halted  and  turned  toward  the  enemy.  "  Ho !  I  will  stop 
running,"  he  said.  He  dashed  headlong  into  the  very  thick  of 
the  foe  and,  across  the  dead  body  of  his  friend  and  kinsman, 
Wa-ba-ska-ha  fell  fighting.  His  vengeance  was  completed. 


24  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE, 

But  one  such  brave  turn  as  his  stayed  the  tide  of  retreat. 
The  Pawnees  fled  at  his  approach  and  the  Ponkas,  following 
after,  scattered  or  captured  their  routed  foemen. 

The  death  of  the  two  friends  ended  the  conflict.  The 
Omahas,  to  which  race  the  Ponkas  belonged,  never  continued 
a  fight  after  a  chief  had  been  killed.  Gathering  up  their  spoil 
and  their  captives  the  Ponka  warriors  turned  homeward  and 
the  foray  was  over.  Within  the  shadow  of  their  own  lodges 
the  victory  was  celebrated  with  song  and  dance,  the  rewards 
for  bravery  were  distributed  among  the  warriors  who  had  most 
highly  distinguished  themselves  and  the  deeds  and  deaths  of 
Nu-da-nax-a  and  Wa-ba-ska-ha  were  loudly  sung.  They  had 
gone  in  glory  to  the  rewards  of  Wa-kan-da. 

Such  heroic  deaths  as  were  those  of  these  two  friends  were 
not  uncommon  amonsf  the  barbaric  warriors  of  the  American 

d> 

forests.  The  story  of  Damon  and  Pythias  could  find  frequent 
parallels  in  Indian  tradition.  The  "  companion  warriors  "  of 
the  prairie  tribes,  the  "  fellowhood  "  of  the  Wyandots,  the 
curious  rites  of  the  Zuni  "  Priesthood  of  the  Bow  "  —  these  and 
similar  phases  of  Indian  military  life,  of  which  the  study 
.of  American  ethnology  affords  us  frequent  glimpses,  are  proof 
of  a  methodical  system  of  war  training  and  a  standard  of  martial 
heroism  among  the  naked  warriors  of  the  Western  world  that 
not  even  the  days  of  Roman  prowess  or  the  later  era  of  a  brutal 
knight-errantry  could  surpass.  The  cultured  Natchez  of  the 
Mississippi  Delta  had  regularly  established  schools  for  the 
military  training  of  their  youth  ;  Toltec  and  Aztec,  alike,  laid 
especial  stress  upon  the  war-training  of  their  boys  ;  and  in  the 
farther  north  Omaha  and  Iroquois,  bravest  of  the  forest  races, 
gave  the  military  education  of  their  youth  into  the  charge  of 
efficient  and  established  teachers. 


AN  OVERTURE   OF  STRIFE.  25 

Schooled  thus  to  war  and  warlike  ways  the  American  Indian 
was  a  born  soldier.  A  barbarian  rather  than  a  savage  there 
was  a  method  in  his  every  move  on  war-path  and  in  ambuscade 
and  battle.  And  this  was  based  on  a  peculiar  school  of  tactics 
that  was  by  no  means  the  brutal  hack  and  hew  of  the  savage 
fighter.  His  art  of  war  was  built  upon  cunning  and  hedged 
about  with  strategy.  It  called  fora  course  of  fast  and  vigil  that 
suggests  the  preliminaries  of  battle  undertaken  by  the  barbarian 
fighters  of  the  so-called  days  of  chivalry.  The  "  knight  of 
Arthur's  court  "  and  the  brave  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  differed 
but  little  in  their  ways  of  war.  True,  the  Indian  warrior  did 
not  ride  out  to  the  slaughter  of  undefended  inferiors  sheathed 
in  steel  and  guarded  at  every  point  by  the  ingenuity  of  the 
blacksmith  and  the  work  of  the  ironmonger.  His  was  the 
more  heroic  equality  of  man  to  man,  unhelmeted,  naked  and 
free.  His  regimentals  were  his  hideous  daubs  of  mud  or  clay, 
his  weapons  the  stone  hatchet,  the  knotty  war-club  and  the 
sharpened  arrow,  his  oriflamme  the  heron's  crest  or  the  eagle's 
feather,  his  torture-chamber  the  forest  clearing  and  the  sacrifi- 
cial fire. 

At  once  the  exigencies  and  the  rivalries  of  his  life  made 
war  an  ever-present  necessity  ;  but  it  was  also  an  ever-pres- 
ent opportunity.  His  heroism  was  lofty,  but  it  implied  craft 
and  cunning.  The  warrior  who  could  circumvent  was  a  greater 
brave  than  he  who  simply  shot  to  kill.  Glooskap  the  Algon- 
quin divinity  was  at  once  fighter  and  conjurer.  Atotarho  the 
Iroquois  war-god  was  wizard  and  warrior  as  well ;  while  even 
the  mythical  Hiawatha  was  quite  as  much  the  wonderful 
magician  as  he  was  champion  and  diplomat. 

Centuries  ago  there  lived  on  the  rocky  shores  of  Lake 
Superior  a  numerous  and  warlike  people  known  as  the  Mun- 


26  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

dua.  Presumably  of  Dakota  stock  this  Indian  tribe  was  fierce 
and  cunning,  relentless  and  strong.  Into  their  homeland, 
forced  westward  by  the  all-conquering  Iroquois,  came  the 
Ojibways,  a  people  of  Algonquin  blood.  For  years  the  new- 
comers lived  in  continual  terror  of  their  ferocious  neighbors. 
To  hunt  in  the  shadows  of  the  Northern  forests,  to  fish  on  the 
waters  of  the  Great  Fresh  Sea  meant  for  the  Ojibways  constant 
anxiety,  and  the  risk  of  capture  and  the  stake. 

To  a  people  who  had  faced  the  Iroquois  in  fight  such  a  state 
of  vassalage  was  not  to  be  endured.  In  union  there  is  strength, 
reasoned  the  badgered  Ojibways.  Other  tribes,  their  neighbors 
as  well,  lived  like  them  in  terror  of  the  Mun-dua.  To  these 
the  Ojibways  suggested  a  confederacy  of  annihilation.  The 
chiefs  in  council  pledged  their  warriors  to  the  attempt,  and  the 
wampum  and  the  war-club  were  sent  in  summons  among  the 
lodges  of  the  confederated  tribes. 

o 

Volunteers  responded  from  every  village.  The  preliminary 
rites  of  fast  and  vigil,  of  mystic  medicine  and  sacred  dance 
were  all  performed,  and  on  the  appointed  day  there  streamed 
from  out  the  rendezvous  the  long  and  wavering  line  of  a  great 
war-party.  Preceded  by  their  watchful  scouts  and  led  on  by  their 
tribal  chiefs,  the  confederated  warriors  stealthily  threaded  the 
narrow  trails  of  the  mighty  forest,  drawing  nearer  and  yet 
nearer  to  the  town  of  their  common  enemy,  determined,  so  the 
record  tells  us,  "  to  put  out  their  fire  forever." 

The  ''  great  town  "  of  the  Mun-dua,  protected  by  palisades, 
topped  a  sightly  hill  that  overlooked  the  mighty  lake.  From 
their  outlooks  the  Mun-dua  spied  out  the  advance  of  the 
besiegers  ;  but  confident  of  their  own  prowess  they  laughed 
the  laugh  of  scorn  and  made  no  movement  to  check  their 
rebellious  vassals. 


AN  OVERTURE   OF  STRIFE. 


27 


The  encircling  forest  poured  out  its  host  of  besiegers.  On 
every  side  of  the  Mun-dua  town,  save  where  the  waters  of  the 
Great  Fresh  Sea  broke  on  the  rocky  beach,  the  Ojibways  and 
their  allies  swarmed  before  the  palisades.  With  every  mark  and 
gesture  of  Indian  de- 
fiance  they  shouted 
their  challenge  to 
the  foe.  They 
danced  and  sang, 
they  raised  the  scalp- 
halloo  and  shot  their 
flights  of  arrows  at 
the  unyielding  wall. 
And  yet  the  Mun- 
dua  gave  no  reply ; 
they  sent  out  no 
force  of  warriors  to 
answer  the  defiance 
of  their  vassals. 

At  last,  after  the 
first  fury  of  the  be- 
siegers had  expended 
itself  in  war-whoop 
and  harmless  arrow- 
flight,  the  gates  of 
the  village  opened 
and  forth  came,  to 
scatter  the  presump- 
tuous rebels,  not  the  warriors  of  the  tribe,  but  the  boys 
of  the  Mun-dua.  The  Indian  contempt  for  an  inferior  foeman 
could  no  farther  go.  But  the  indignant  allies,  turning  their 


"DEATH    T<i    THh    MUN-DUA  I" 


28  AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

bows  into  rods,  beat  back  the  boys  of  the  Mun-dua  into  the 
lodges  of  their  mothers. 

"  So  ;  these  slaves  need  harsher  chastisement,"  said  the  chief- 
tains of  the  Mun-dua.  "They  shall  have  it ! :'  And  on  the 
next  day  they  set  out  against  their  besiegers  the  young  men  of 
the  tribe,  warriors  in  training  only,  and  bade  them  prove  their 
fitness  for  the  war-path  on  the  bodies  of  these  audacious  rebels. 
But  they  knew  not  the  valor  of  the  Ojibways.  Stung  to  a 
mighty  rage  by  the  insolence  of  their  would-be  masters  these 
old  Iroquois  fighters  rushed  against  the  youngsters  sent  upon 
them  and  driving  them  back  through  the  open  gates  pursued 
them  to  the  very  lintels  of  'their  lodges.  Thus,  forcing  the 
palisades,  they  held  in  conquest  half  the  invaded  town. 

Then,  at  last,  the  chiefs  of  the  Mun-dua  awoke  to  their 
danger.  These  were  not  cowards  and  cravens  that  had  dared 
to  rise  against  their  power,  but  men  ;  and  like  men  they  must 
be  met.  The  warriors  sprang  to  arms ;  scarred  veterans  of  the 
war-path,  valorous  braves  of  the  foray,  stalwart  chieftains  of 
the  war  parties  and  the  council-fires  —  they  rallied  now  to 
repel  an  invader  they  could  no  longer  affect  to  despise.  They 
smeared  themselves  with  the  war-paint,  they  sang  the  inspirit- 
ing scalp-song,  they  anxiously  consulted  the  sacred  medicine- 
bags,  and,  strong  of  purpose,  they  flung  themselves  upon 
their  foe. 

That  day  the  fight  was  to  the  death.  All  the  deepest 
passions,  all  the  dearest  hopes  of  man --be  he  civilized  or 
savage  —  were  met  in  deadliest  strife.  To  the  Ojibways  and 
their  allies  the  struggle  was  for  release  from  servitude,  for 
vengeance  and  for  glory  ;  to  the  Mun-dua,  brought  at  last  to 
bay,  it  was  for  mastery,  for  home,  even  for  life  itself. 

All  the  desperate  arts,  all  the  daring  risks,  all  the  deadliest 


AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE.  29 

devices  of  Indian  warfare  met  or  were  attempted  upon  the 
slopes  of  that  blood-stained  hill  above  the  inland  sea.  The 
fight  was  hand  to  hand  ;  and  the  traditions  say  that  never  in 
all  the  story  of  Indian  warfare  was  ever  fight  that  exceeded 
the  fierceness  of  that  battle  by  the  Great  Fresh  Sea. 

But  victory  rested  with  the  Ojibways.  Step  by  step  they 
drove  the  warlike  Mun-dua  back  —  back  from  the  palisades, 
back  over  the  hill-top,  back  to  the  very  edge  of  the  bluff  on 
which  the  village  stood.  The  women  and  children,  dreading 
capture,  threw  themselves  into  the  lake,  the  ground  was  strewn 
with  the  bodies  of  the  bravest  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the 
Mun-dua ;  of  all  that  powerful  tribe  scarcely  a  handful  was  left. 
Silently  and  sadly,  but  swiftly  as  their  desperate  circumstances 
demanded,  the  defeated  remnant,  under  cover  of  a  dense  lake 
fog  that  arose  as  if  to  shield  them,  turned  and  fled  from  their 
relentless  enemies  and  their  field  of  defeat. 

But  the  fog  was  even  more  treacherous  than  their  human 
foe.  For  when,  after  a  day  and  night  of  weary  flight,  the  fog 
at  last  left  them,  behold !  there  they  stood  on  the  very  hill- 
slope  that  had  held  their  conquered  town  and  within  full  view 
of  their  now  jubilant  foemen.  "  It  is  the  will  of  the  Great 
Spirit  that  we  should  perish,"  said  the  aged  chief  who  alone  of 
all  their  valiant  men  of  war,  remained  to  lead  them  ;  "let  us  die 
like  men."  Once  more  they  turned  at  bay.  But  they  were 
spent  and  worn  while  their  enemies  were  refreshed  and  strong. 
Resistance  was  useless.  Chief  and  warrior  fell  side  by  side,  and 
when  the  dispirited  remnant  turned  once  more  to  flight  they 
were  surrounded  and  captured.  Incorporated,  as  was  the 
Indian  custom,  within  the  victorious  tribe  the  captives  became 
Ojibways  and  the  name  of  the  Mun-dua  disappeared  forever 
from  the  page  of  Indian  story. 


3o  A  A7  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE. 

The  legends  and  traditions  of  those  barbaric  confederacies 
that  but  sparsely  dotted  the  vast  North  American  continent 
four  centuries  ago  are  marked  throughout  by  just  such  para- 
graphs as  this.  Brutal  and  relentless,  shrewd  and  crafty,  actu- 
ated by  all  the  selfishness  and  by  all  the  cunning  that  domi- 
nates the  barbaric  mind,  the  American  Indian,  judged  from 
his  own  standards,  was  still  a  trained,  a  valiant  and  a  veteran 
soldier.  Had  but  the  records  of  his  years  of  supremacy  in  this 
old  New  World  remained  to  us,  as  have  the  records  of  Goth 
and  Vandal,  Hun  and  Celt,  we  might  be  able  to  place  in  the 
galleries  of  heroism  the  portraits  of  American  warriors  as"  bold 
as  Alaric,  as  relentless  as  Attila,  as  manly  as  Vercingetorix, 
as  liberty-loving  as  Civilis,  as  stubborn  in  fight  as  those  noble 
old  Britons  Cassivelaunus  and  Boadicea  and  Hereward  the 
Wake. 

Their  weapons  of  warfare  were  as  crude  as  were  their  mili- 
tary tactics.  But  both  served  the  purpose  of  their  time  and 
gave  victory  to  the  bravest  until  matched  against  the  more 
intelligent  methods  of  the  unconquerable  white  man.  To 
as  intelligent  a  use  of  these  latter,  the  red  warrior  proved  him- 
self unequal.  Schooled  for  centuries  on  a  lower  plane  of 
effort  and  action  the  American  Indian  was  entirely  unable  to 
assimilate  the  ways  and  the  weapons  of  the  mailed  warriors  from 
across  the  western  sea.  The  military  empire  of  Montezuma  in 
the  South,  the  forest  despotism  of  the  Iroquois  in  the  North 
went  down  in  defeat  before  the  unattainable  precision  of  Span- 
ish arquebuse  and  English  musket.  So  fell  the  Natchez,  so 
fell  Creek  and  Algonquin,  Illinois  and  Ojibway.  Conquered  in 
war  as  in  other  matters  by  the  intelligence  that  was  already 
regenerating  Europe  the  free  warriors  of  the  American  forests 
yielded  to  the  inevitable.  The  barbaric  nobility  of  pre-Colum- 


AN  OVERTURE    OF  STRIFE.  3t 

bian  days,  unable  to  cope  with  the  refined  cruelties  of  the 
more  powerful  white  man,  speedily  degenerated.  Daring 
became  brutality,  and  valor  lapsed  into  mere  ferocity ;  harassed 
and  hunted,  their  cunning  turned  to  treachery,  their  skill  gave 
place  to  vindictiveness.  Forced  from  lords  of  the  land  to 
vassals,  serfs  and  hunted  fugitives  their  war-record  became  now 
only  a  series  of  losing  struggles  against  manifest  destiny. 
The  history  of  Indian  warfare  after  the  coming  of  the  white 
man  is  but  a  sickening  record  of  Christian  duplicity  and  Indian 
atrocity. 

Thus  the  old  day  of  the  earliest  American  soldier  ends. 
The  overture  of  strife  that  sounded  through  centuries  of  blood 
closes  in  the  war-song  of  defeat.  A  new  race  of  fighters  from 
over  the  sea,  mailed  and  gauntleted  in  shining  steel  now  comes 
to  take  up  the  story  of  war,  of  conquest  and  of  blood.  The 
naked  fighter  of  forest,  plain  and  water-side  gives  place  to  the 
bearers  of  the  crossletted  banner  and  the  next  chapter  in  the 
story  of  the  American  soldier  must  be  that  of  the  cruel  but 
valorous  Conquistador. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE     COXQUISTADORES. 

HE  foundations  upon  which 
American  sovereignty  was 
reared  were  laid  in  conflict 
and  cemented  with  blood. 
In  no  other  newly-discovered 
continent  was  the  work  of 
conquest  so  thorough,  so  com- 
prehensive and  so  complete. 
Asia,  though  echoing  for  cen- 
turies to  the  tramp  of  con- 
quering armies,  is  yet  only  fringed  with  the  marks  of  Christian 
occupation.  Africa,  the  seat  of  the  earliest  civilizations,  has 
been  for  ages  the  "  Dark  Continent,"  the  mystery  of  which 
Christian  science  and  Christian  conquest  have  hardly  yet 
unlocked. 

In  America  how  different  is  the  record.  At  once  the 
genius,  the  cupidity  and  the  daring  of  the  brightest  and  bravest 
of  Europe's  adventurers  saw  in  the  new  world  unlimited  fortunes 
to  be  won,  deathless  glory  to  be  achieved  and  an  unbounded 
empire  to  be  had  only  for  the  taking. 

And  they  came  prepared  to  take.  In  every  vessel,  large  or 
small,  that  fojlowed  the  track  marked  out  by  Columbus  and  the 


THE   CONQCrSTADORES.  33 

Cabots  across  the  stormy  western  ocean  came  Spanish  hidalgo, 
French  chevalier  and  English  noble  armed  for  battle  and  for 
conquest. 

It  is  true  that  the  first  of  the  white  strangers  who  won 
renown  on  American  shores  were  sailors  rather  than  soldiers ; 
navigators  rather  than  conquerors.  The  sons  of  Eric  the 
Northman  and  "their  iron-armed  and,  stalwart  crew"  were 
fighters,  no  doubt ;  Whitter  says  of  them  : 

"  I  see  the  gleam  of  axe  and  spear ; 
The  sound  of  smitten  shields  I  hear, 
Keeping  a  harsh  and  fitting  time 
To  saga's  chant  and  runic  rhyme." 

But  they  came  to  Markland  and  to  Vinland  more  for  dis- 
covery than  for  conquest ;  their  brief  and  half-mythical  occu- 
pation was  one  of  peace  and  of  uncertainty  rather  than  of 
determination.  Thorvald  the  Viking  died  under  an  Indian 
arrow  near  the  present  site  of  Boston.  Karlsefne's  fight  with 
the-  "  skraelings,"  as  the  Indians  of  Vinland  were  termed,  was 
but  a  doubtful  conflict.  The  historic  valor  of  the  vikings  of 
saga  and  rune  seems  to  have  found  no  place  in  the  legends 
of  Vinland.  The  dragon-ships  headed  homeward  and  the 
Norse  occupation  of  America  was  over  almost  before  it  had 
bes;un. 

0 

But  in  cabin  and  in  forecastle  on  the  fleets  that  followed 
the  caravels  of  Columbus  the  admiral  came  men  who  were 
more  soldier  than  sailor  and  more  adventurer  than  either.  The 
great  admiral,  himself,  believed  that  he  had  discovered  the 
gateway  of  the  earthly  paradise.  His  companions,  contem- 
poraries and  successors  —  loyal  sons  of  the  Church  and  devout 
soldiers  of  the  Cross  —  were  confident  that  they  had  only  to 


34 


THE    CONQUISTADORES. 


enter  in  to  conquer  and  enjoy  all  the  delights  and  all  the  bound- 
less riches  of  the  toil-free  garden  of  Eden. 

So  over  the  sea  they  came.  Castilian  nobles  brave  in 
slashed  silks  and  all  the  display  of  a  powerful  and  punctilious 
court,  grim  old  infidel-fighters  in  war-scarred  coats  of  mail,  gay 
young  dons  with  the  fluttering  love-tokens  of  dark-eyed  senoritas 
tucked  jauntily  into  doublet  or  cap,  impecunious  hidalgos, 
down  on  their  luck  but  confident  of  winning  abundant  fortune 
among  the  pagans  whom  the  Lord  had  evidently  created  only 

to  be  the  slaves  and   serfs  of  these  high- 
toned  gentlemen  of  Spain  ! 

Amid  the  blare  of  trumpets  and  the 
roar  of  cannon  the)'  sailed  away  into 
the  unknown.  Confident,  boastful  and 
valorous  their  dreams  were  all  of  con- 
quest ;  the  possibility  of  defeat  never 
entered  into  their  calculations.  So  sailed 
the  second  expedition  of  Columbus,  his 

IJIi     SU1U. 

seventeen  vessels  thronged  with  a  bril- 
liant following  —  "hidalgos  of  high  rank,  officers  of  the 
royal  household  and  Andalusian  cavaliers,"  schooled  in  arms 
and  inspired  With  a  passion  for  hardy  achievements  by  the 
romantic  wars  of  Granada  ;  so  sailed  the  armament  of  the  valor- 
ous Ojeda,  in  ten  ships  fitted  out  by  the  purses  of  the  con- 
federated adventurers,  bound  for  fame  and  fortune ;  so  too 
in  quest  of  empire  went  Pedro  cle  Avila,  called  by  men  "  the 
Fury  of  the  Lord,"  and  Diego  de  Nicuesa,  the  rival  of  the  fiery 
Ojeda,  who,  "  in  gay  and  vaunting  style,''  set  out  for  the  Golden 
Land  whereon  he  needed  only  to  set  foot  to  win.  So  too  sailed 
Ponce  de  Leon,  "  lord  of  Bimini  and  Adelantado  of  Florida,' 
and  Cortez,  alcalde  of  Santiago,  on  the  mission  that  was  to 


THE   CONQUISTADORES.  35 

make  him  famous ;  and  last,  but  by  no  means  the  least,  so  sailed 
Hernando  de  Soto  prepared  for  conquest  and  colonization. 

How  speedily  all  these  gallant  gentlemen  and  valorous 
hidalgos  of  Spain  came  to  grief  history  only  too  graphically 
records.  High  hopes  went  down  in  wreck  ;  fortune  and  empire 
proved  but  will-of-the-wisps ;  and  only  a  fame  strangely  com- 
pounded of  mighty  valor  and  the  most  relentless  brutality 
remains  as  their  heritage.  The  world-seeking  companions  of 
Columbus  one  and  all  died  the  deaths  of  homeless  wanderers  ; 
the  gallant  but  reckless  Ojeda,  aspiring  to  an  empire  that  should 
rival  that  of  Alexander — than  whom,  says  Charlevoix,  "  none 
had  a  heart  more  lofty,  nor  ambition  more  aspiring"  —  turned 
monk  and  died  so  poor  that  he  had  not  even  the  small  pittance 
needful  to  pay  for  his  burial.  Avila,  cruel-minded  to  the  last, 
rose  to  power  in  the  New  World  but,  deprived  of  his  offices,  lin- 
gered on, disgraced  and  forgotten,  to  the  great  age  of  ninety  years. 
Nicuesa,  after  a  career  of  romance  and  disaster  almost  unpar- 
alleled, was  expelled  from  his  governorship  and  seeking  flight  in 
a  crazy  brigantine  was  never  heard  of  more.  Ponce  de  Leon, 
soldier-like  to  the  end,  risked  an  empire  that  he  was  never  to 
obtain  and  died  from  the  avenging  arrow  of  the  warriors  of 
that  fair  Land  of  Flowers  he  had  hoped  to  enslave.  Upon 
the  tomb  of  this  stout  old  cavalier  stands  the  only  record  of 
one  whom  fate  delighted  to  baffle:  "  Within  this  sepulcher  rest 
the  bones  of  a  man  who  was  a  lion  by  name  and  still  more 
by  nature." 

De  Soto,  bravest  and  most  brutal  of  all,  born  for  valor  and 
swayed  by  greed,  saw  his  gorgeous  and  gallant  following  die 
man  by  man  beneath  the  arrows  of  an  outraged  people  and 
the  sharper  wounds  of  hardship  and  disease.  Wealth  and 
fame,  power  and  prestige  alike  deserted  him  and  at  last,  he 


36  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

died  —  a  wandering  outcast  in  the  very  wilderness  that  he  had 
boasted  would  yield  him  the  revenues  of  a  richer  Mexico  and  a 
more  marvelous  Peru. 

The  story  of  these  gallant  captains  is  but  that  of  their 
comrades  and  successors.  Hundreds  and  thousands,  drawn 
from  the  very  flower  of  Spanish  chivalry,  risked  their  all  in  a 
crusade  that  was  to  be,  so  they  fondly  imagined,  more  crowded 
with  heroism  and  more  gloriously  golden  in  results  than  was 
that  against  the  turbaned  infidels  of  the  Holy  Land  or  the 
picturesque  conflicts  beneath  the  walls  of  Granada. 

u  The  youth  of  the  nation,"  says  Mr.  Irving,  "  bred  up  to 
daring  adventure  and  heroic  achievement,  could  not  brook  the 
tranquil  and  regular  pursuits  of  common  life,  but  panted  for 

some  new  field  of  romantic  enterprise The 

Spanish  cavalier  embarked  in  the  caravel  of  the  discoverer. 
He  carried  among  the  trackless  wildernesses  of  the  New  World 
the  same  contempt  of  danger  and  fortitude  and  suffering;  the 
same  restless,  roaming  spirit ;  the  same  passion  for  inroad  and 
ravage,  and  vainglorious  exploit ;  and  the  same  fervent,  and 
often  bigoted  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  his  faith,  that  had 
distinguished  him  during  his  warfare  with  the  Moors.  Instances 
in  point  will  be  found  in  the  extravagant  career  of  the  daring 
Ojeda,  particularly  in  his  adventures  along  the  coast  of  Terra 
Firma,  and  the  wild  shores  of  Cuba ;  in  the  sad  story  of  the 
unfortunate  Nicuesa,  graced  as  it  is  with  occasional  touches  of 

<j 

high-bred  courtesy  ;  in  the  singular  cruise  of  that  brave  but 
credulous  old  cavalier,  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  who  fell  upon  the 
flowery  coast  of  Florida  in  search  after  an  imaginary  fountain 
of  youth ;  and  above  all,  in  the  checkered  fortunes  of  Vasco 
Nunez  de  Balboa,  whose  discovery  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  forms 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  striking  incidents  in  the  history 


"FOR    SANTIAGO   AND    SPAIN! 


THE   CONQ.UISTADORES.  39 

of  the  New    World,   and   whose    fate   might    furnish   a   theme 
of  wonderful  interest  for  a  poem  or  a  drama." 

And  what  fighters  they  were.  Not  all  their  greed  for  gold, 
nor  all  their  brutal  ways,  not  all  their  vainglorious  boastings, 
nor  all  the  bigotry  of  their  religious  faith  can  force  into  the 
background  their  indomitable  pluck,  their  valor  or  their  fury 
in  war.  The  golden  banner  of  Spain  may  have  flaunted  in 
American  breezes  above  superstition,  fanaticism,  avarice  and 
cruelty,  but  beneath  its  folds  fought  also  as  valiant  warriors,  as 
courageous  cavaliers,  and  as  gallant  gentlemen  as  ever  drew 
sword  for  king,  for  glory  and  for  renown. 

As  types  of  those  commingled  qualities  that  made  up  the 
picturesque  conquistador  of  the  sixteenth  century  three  names 
stand  clearly  out  from  the  dramatic  story  of  those  days  of  con- 
flict and  of  blood :  Alonso  de  Ojeda,  the  companion  of 
Columbus,  Pedro  de  Alvarado,  the  lieutenant  of  Cortez  and 
Francisco  Vasquez  de  Coronado  the  conqueror  of  New  Mexico. 

Ambitious,  adventurous,  daring,  reckless  and  always  over- 
sanguine,  Alonso  de  Ojeda  was  a  born  fighter.  He  early 
essayed  the  life  of  a  soldier.  Schooled  to  examples  of  valor  as 
a  page  of  the  fiery  duke  of  Medina  Celi  in  the  Moorish  wars  he 
was  scarce  more  than  a  boy  when  he  joined  the  second  expe- 
dition of  Columbus  as  gentleman-adventurer.  From  the  first 
sight  we  have  of  him  heading  a  band  of  ambitious  young 
cavaliers  across  the  mountains  of  San  Domingo  on  a  search  for 
the  warlike  and  powerful  cacique  whom  men  called  "  the  Lord 
of  the  Golden  House,"  to  the  very  last  glimpse  that  comes  to 
us  when,  brought  to  bay  in  the  streets  of  San  Domingo,  he 
fought  single-handed  the  whole  band  of  his  would-be  assassins, 
his  story  is  one  of  continuous  adventure  and  daring  deeds.  A 
perfect  horseman  and  as  gallant  a  cavalier  as  ever  struck  home 


4o  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

for  "  Santiago  and  Spain  !  ''  he  was  as  magnanimous  as  he  was 
reckless ;  as  open-handed  in  peace  as  he  was  irresistible  in  war. 

His  capture  of  Caonabo  was  a  sample  of  his  courage  and 
recklessness.  At  the  head  of  ten  mailed  and  mounted  followers 
he  boldly  dashed  across  the  mountains  and  into  the  very 
presence  of  this  fiery  Carib  chieftain  — "  the  Lord  of  the  Golden 
House."  Though  surrounded  by  dangers  that  suggested  death 
at  every  turn,  Ojeda  prevailed  upon  Caonabo  reluctantly  to 
visit  Columbus.  Separating  him  from  his  extensive  escort  the 
Spaniard  shrewdly  induced  the  cacique  to  wear  as  bracelets  a 
pair  of  glittering  steel  handcuffs.  Binding  his  then  unresisting 
prisoner  upon  the  fleet  horse  he  had  been  induced  to  mount, 
Ojeda  and  his  followers  galloped  away  from  the  swarm  of 
astounded  Caribs  and  bore  the  illustrious  captive  into  the  very 
camp  of  Columbus. 

But  recklessness  is  not  leadership  and  the  successful  fighter 
can  rarely  prove  a  match  for  the  scheming  politician.  Soldierly 
in  bearing,  dashing  in  devices,  terrible  in  war.  restless  if  not 
engaged  in  some  daring  and  adventurous  exploit,  Ojeda  was 
yet  perpetually  the  dupe  of  some  wily  gold-getter,  and  was 
always  as  poor  in  purse  as  he  was  proud  in  spirit.  Success 
never  attended  his  endeavors  by  lining  his  pockets  with  the 
Carib  gold  that  every  Spaniard  coveted.  Wealth  continually 
evaded  him. 

His  indomitable  spirit,  his  tireless  vigor,  his  good  comradeship, 
his  ability  as  a  captain,  his  great  personal  prowess  and  his  un- 
flagging striving  for  success  were  more  than  counterbalanced  by 
his  utter  incompetency  to  rule  where  he  had  conquered,  his 
bigotry,  his  useless  hardihood,  his  scorn  of  caution,  his  waste- 
fulness and  his  impatience  of  control.  These  latter  all  led  to 
his  downfall.  "  Good  management  and  good  fortune,"  says 


THE   CONQUISTADORES.  41 

Charlevoix,  "  forever  failed  him,"  and  the  very  qualities  that 
made  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  "  one  of  the  most  fearless  and  aspiring 
of  the  band  of  Ocean  chivalry  that  followed  the  footsteps  of 
Columbus  "  combined,  also,  to  make  his  life  a  failure  and  his 
career  a  tragedy. 

Of  a  similar  heroic  strain  but  more  wisely  balanced  was  the 
famous  Pedro  de  Alvaraclo.  Stripped  of  all  the  bombastic 
romancing  of  the  Spanish  chroniclers,  to  whom  this  fiery 
young  captain  was  almost  a  demi-god,  Pedro  de  Alvarado  still 
stands  forth  the  very  synonym  of  all  that  is  most  fascinating  in 
the  old-time  fighter.  As  chivalrous  as  fearless,  and  as  resistless 
as  bold  this  friend  and  favorite  lieutenant  of  Cortez  added  to  a 
fiery  nature  a  face  and  form  that  won  for  him  admirers 
among  both  friends  and  foes.  To  .the  simple  and  superstitious 
Indians  of  Mexico  this  dashing  cavalier,  cased  in  armor  and 
deftly  guiding  his  galloping  steed,  seemed  almost  divine.  To 
them  he  was  To-na-ti-uh  —  the  Child  of  the  Sun  —  and  in 
making  him  the  hero  of  a  most  entertaining  romance  of  the 
Conquest  *  General  Wallace  has  but  embodied  in  story  many 
of  the  attributes  that  the  conquered  Aztecs  ascribed  to  this 
paladin  of  the  Mexican  causeway,  the  brightest  figure  in  the 
awful  "  night  of  sorrow." 

Embarking  as  an  adventurer  almost  before  he  had  become 
a  man  this  young  soldier  of  fortune  sailed  over-sea  from  his 
home  in  Badajoz  to  the  alluring  Land  of  Promise.  Speedily 
finding  opportunity  he  was  the  first  to  bring  to  Cuba  tidings  of 
the  wealth  and  power  of  the  Mexico  that  was  to  make  him 
famous.  Following  the  banner  of  Cortez  to  the  conquest  of 
that  half-mythical  tropic  empire  Alvarado  became,  next  to  his 

•  "  The  Fair  God  ;  or  the  Last  of  tue  Tzins,"  by  Lew  Wallace.     A  charming  and  altogether  delightful  story  of  th« 
romantic  conquest  of  Mexico. 


42  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

general,  the  central  figure  of  that  historic  conquest.  A  born 
leader  of  men  he  speedily  rose  to  command  and  wherever 
opportunity  for  fighting  occurred  or  hope  of  booty  beckoned  he 
was  first  on  the  field  and  established  a  reputation  for  daring 
and  for  valor  wherever  danger  threatened  or  death  appeared 
most  imminent.  His  personal  bravery  and  personal  prowess, 
(displayed  in  such  achievements  as  that  famous  leap  across  the 
bloody  causeway  that  has  now  become  historic)  dwell  longest 
with  the  lover  of  gallant  deeds  who  reads  his  story  and  yields  to 
the  fascinations  of  his  warlike  feats,  but  the  student  of  history 
sees  beneath  the  knightly  bearing  the  less  attractive  traits  that 
were  so  often  discoverable  in  the  make-up  of  the  conquistador. 
For  this  brilliant  fighter  was  far  from  orod-like.  He  was 

O  O 

greedy  for  gold,  treacherous  toward  a  trusting  foeman,  over- 
bearing, arrogant  and  full  of  craft.  "  He  had,"  says  Prescott, 
who  recounts  with  fervor  all  his  great  exploits,  "  a  heart  rash, 
rapacious  and  cruel."  And  when  the  Aztec  nation  fell  and  the 
Conquest  was  accomplished  few  contributed  more  toward 
making  both  fall  and  conquest  bitter  and  unchristian  than  did 
this  typical  conquistador,  this  valiant  u  Child  of  the  Sun,"  Pedro 
de  Alvarado.  It  seems  but  a  fitting  retribution  that  his  death 
in  after  years  should  have  come  in  the  hour  of  his  defeat  by 
these  very  Mexican  Indians  whom  he  had  conquered  and  by  an 
unsoldierly  fall  from  his  horse  —  one  of  those  same  strange 
and  mysterious  beasts  upon  whose  back  in  earlier  days  this 
redoubtable  To-na-ti-uh  had  been  so  irresistible. 

Of  a  very  different  type  and  yet  quite  as  distinctively  a 
Spaniard  was  Francisco  Vasquez  de  Coronado,  the  "conqueror" 
of  New  Mexico.  No  longer  a  young  man  this  honest  cavalier 
of  Salamanca  was  of  grave  deportment,  affable  manners  and  of 
fair  executive  ability.  Long  residence  in  Mexico,  where  he  was 


THE  CONQUISTADORES.  45 

established  in  1540  as  governor  of  one  of  the  western  provinces, 
had  given  him  acquaintance  with  the  manners  and  disposition 
of  the  natives  of  that  conquered  land.  The  impetuosity  of 
youth  had  given  place  to  the  caution  and  sedateness  of  middle 
age.  A  valiant  and  courageous  gentleman,  slow  to  decide  and 
not  always  quick  to  act,  he  was  watchful  to  prevent  disaster, 
and  while  never  courting  danger,  he  was  cool  and  brave  in 
action  when  danger  really  came. 

Such  a  leader  was  certain  to  command  the  respect  of  his 
followers,  and  Coronado  seems  to  have  had  this  and  to  have  in- 
spired also  both  the  love  and  the  confidence  of  his  soldiers. 
Says  one  of  them,  Pedro  de  Casteneda  the  chronicler  of  his 
captain's  wanderings :  "  Never  was  Spanish  general  in  the 
Indies  more  beloved  or  better  obeyed  than  he." 

But  grave,  circumspect  and  valiant  though  he  was  Coronado 
seems  to  have  been  compounded  of  those  strangely  clashing 
elements  that  united  in  the  Spanish  fighter  of  those  olden 
times.  An  unforgiving  foeman,  terrible  in  his  revenges  and 
contemptuous  of  the  poor  natives  over  whom  he  was  either 
ruler  or  conqueror,  Coronado  was,  above  all,  avaricious,  super- 
stitious and  credulous  to  a  degree,  with  an  ever-ready  ear  for  the 
big  stones  of  those  whom  policy,  timidity  or  cunning  made 
"  the  brethren  of  the  long  bow."  Authorized  by  the  viceroy 
Mendoza  to  inquire  into  certain  reports  as  to  an  alleged  native 
empire  to  the  northward  Coronado  swallowed  with  true  Span- 
ish gusto  all  the  wonderful  stories  of  the  "  Seven  Cities  of 
Cibola  "  that  came  to  him.  Here  was  a  new  Mexico  to  be  con- 
quered ;  here  were  wealth  and  empire  to  be  had  for  the  taking; 
he  was  to  be  a "  more  successful  Cortez,  a  richer  Pizarro !  He 
evidently  essayed  to  investigate  the  reports  with  caution  but  he 
as  evidently  accepted  as  gospel  all  the  crazy  fictions  of  the 


46  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

crafty  Indian,  Tejos,  all  the  pleasant  fables  of  his  own  prede- 
cessor, Nuno  de  Guzman,  all  the  incredible  stories  of  that  pict- 
uresque tramp  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  and  all  the  barefaced  falsehoods 
told  by  the  monk  Marcos,  by  the  Munchasen-like  negro 
Stephen  and  by  that  particularly  mendacious  native  whom  the 
"  Conquerors  "  called  "  the  Turk." 

So,  setting  out  from  Compostella,  the  capital  of  his  province, 
in  the  month  of  February,  1540,  Coronado  led  into  the  north- 
ern wilderness  a  gallant  array  of  gentlemen  adventurers,  sturdy 
fighters,  and  Indian  allies. 

Never  were  expectations  more  utterly  blasted;  never  did 
high  hopes  go  down  in  greater  wreck.  The  expedition  faced 
toward  the  north  with  the  most  glowing  prospects  of  easy  con- 
quest and  enormous  booty.  Across  the  desert  the  prize 
awaited  them  :  "  Seven  great  cities,  the  houses  whereof  were 
built  of  lime  and  stone,  two,  three,  sometimes  five  stories  in 
height,  ascended  on  the  outside  by  ladders ;  whose  inhabitants 
clothed  themselves  in  gowns  of  cotton,  in  woolen  cloth,  and  in 
garments  of  leather,  wearing  girdles  of  turquoises  around  their 
waists,  emeralds  in  their  ears  and  noses ;  whose  common  house- 
hold vessels  were  of  gold  and  silver,  and  where  gold  was  more 
abundant  than  in  Peru,  the  \valls  of  the  temples  being  covered 
with  plates  of  that  precious  metal;' 

Disappointment  met  them  almost  at  the  outset.  But  still 
they  pressed  on,  lured  by  the  promise  that  "  just  beyond  "  were 
the  coveted  treasures.  "  The  seven  cities  of  Cibola,"  says  Mr. 
Skinner,  "  that  reared  themselves  on  the  marge  of  Coronado's 

O 

imagination  as  proudly  as  would  Palmyra  and  old  Tyre  dwin- 
dled on  his  approach  to  ruined  villages ;  nor  could  their 
occupants  guide  him  to  those  veins  and  beds  where  precious 
stones  and  metals  glistened  and  where  they  are  to-day  yielding 


THE   CONQUISTADORES.  47 

up  to  our  nation  the  wealth  of  an  empire."  The  gold-seeking 
soldiers  of  Coronado  daily  spurned  untold  treasure  beneath 
their  feet  and  yet  they  knew  it  not. 

Still  on  and  on  they  pressed.  Across  the  hills  and  valleys, 
the  deserts,  plains  and  water-courses  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico,  penetrating,  so  it  is  claimed,  even  into  the  present  con- 
fines of  Colorado,  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  Then  they  gave 
it  up,  and  turning  back  retraced  their  homeward  way  a  disap- 
pointed, dispirited  and  decimated  band.  Two  years  of  wander- 
ing had  yielded  them  neither  empire,  gold  nor  booty.  Of  all 
that  gallant  "  army  of  conquest "  only  about  an  hundred  tat- 
terdemalions dragged  themselves  back  to  Mexico  and  all  the 
brilliant  visions  of  Coronado  ended  for  him  in  defeat  and  dis- 
grace. The  viceroy  Mendoza  expended  his  wrath  upon  the 
unhappy  leader,  his  governorship  was  taken  from  him  and  he 
himself  died  poor,  forgotten,  and  half-crazed,  the  victim  of  a 
baseless  dream  of  glory. 

And  yet  Coronado  deserved  a  better  fate.  He  had  but 
obeyed  orders  as  a  soldier  should.  He  had  found  for  civiliza- 
tion a  land  that  was  to  be  in  time  the  treasure-house  of  the 
world;  he  had  with  admirable  skill,  as  General  Simpson  now 
declares,  led  out  an  expedition  that  "  for  extent  in  distance  trav- 
eled, duration  in  time  and  the  multiplicity  of  its  co-operating 
expeditions  equalled,  if  it  did  not  exceed,  any  land  expedition 
that  has  been  undertaken  in  modern  times." 

In  how  many  instances  the  story  of  the  conquistador  was 
but  a  repetition  of  that  of  Coronado  the  musty  pages  of  the  old 
chroniclers,  couched  in  crabbed  Spanish  or  still  more  crabbed 
Latin,  only  too  faithfully  bear  record.  It  was  a  time  of  rash 
endeavor,  misty  promise,  and  high  expectation.  Men  risked 
their  all  for  glory,  for  booty  and  for  gold.  Rumors  were  tor- 


48  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

tured  into  facts  as  across  the  broad  Atlantic  marvelous  tales  of 
still  more  marvelous  regions  reached  the  ears  of  European 
nations,  already  tingling,  as  Mr.  Thompson  says,  "  with  the  fas- 
cinating stories  of  Columbus  and  his  followers.  Mexico,"  he 

o 

adds,  "  had  fallen  before  Cortez ;  Peru  had  poured  her  spoils 
into  the  bloody  hands  of  Pizarro.  Ships  were  slipping  away 
from  the  ports  of  Spain  with  their  prows  to  the  southwest. 
The  wind  in  their  sails  was  the  breath  of  fortune.  When  the 
ships  returned  they  came  loaded  down  with  gold  and  bearing 
the  heroes  of  wild  battles,  the  doers  of  strange  deeds."  What 
wonder  that  spendthrift  hidalgoes  with  more  pluck  than  pos- 
sessions and  avaricious  dons,  greedy  for  gold,  should  take  a  bond 
of  fate  in  lands  where  glory  and  booty  alike  were  to  be  won  ! 

Such  an  one  was  the  bankrupt  farmer,  Vasco  Nunez  called 
Balboa,  who  with  an  assurance  that  was  almost  monumental 
turned  the  contempt  of  his  associates  into  confidence  and  forced 
their  very  waywardness  to  serve  his  private  ends.  Achieving 
advancement  by  energy  he  became  successful  both  as  conqueror 
and  governor,  coined  the  wealth  of  provinces  into  castellanos 
with  which  to  line  his  own  capacious  pockets  and  became  for- 
ever immortal  as  the  discoverer  of  the  vast  Pacific. 

Such,  too,  was  Balboa's  most  relentless  rival,  Pedro  Arias 
de  Avila,  known  as  Pedrarias,  a  sturdy  fighter  in  the  Moorish 
wars,  but  a  man  thoroughly  wily,  unscrupulous,  politic,  revenge- 
ful and  vindictive.  With  him  from  San  Lucar  a  gallant  array 
of  two  thousand  Spanish  knights  and  gentlemen-adventurers 
went  westward  to  the  fairy-land  of  the  Golden  Castile  where 
gems  were  as  plentiful  as  Biscay  herrings  and  gold  was  to  be 
gathered  from  the  ground  in  handfuls.  It  was  a  fatal  harvest. 
Within  one  month  after  the  landing  at  Darien  seven  hundred 
of  that  gallant  following  perished  in  the  clutch  of  enemies 


THE   CONQUfSTADORES.  49 

more  terrible  than  the  infidel  Moor  —  famine  and  disease.  Dis- 
appointed, suspicious,  passionate  and  envious  Pedrarias  vented 
his  spleen  upon  his  rival  Balboa.  He  dispatched  him  on  im- 
possible missions,  placed  him  in  compromising  situations  and 
fairly  forcing  him  into  alleged  treachery,  brutally  persecuted 
and  finally  killed  the  only  man  who  could  have  helped  him  to 
the  gold  and  the  possessions  he  so  greedily  coveted. 

Another  such,  swayed  by  the  hope  of  gain,  was  the  "  Bache- 
lor" Martin  Fernandez  de  Enciso.  Coming  into  the  American 
provinces  a  speculative  lawyer  he  turned  the  quarrels  of  men 
to  his  personal  profit  and  accumulated  by  his  successful  law 
business  a  fortune  of  two  thousand  castellanos  (about  $11,000). 
Dazzled  by  the  promise  of  the  chief-justiceship  of  a  conquered 
province  he  was  tempted  into  investing  his  savings  in  a  roman- 
tic venture  and  with  strangely  varying  fortunes  became  in  turn 
adventurer,  soldier,  conqueror,  governor,  rival,  bankrupt,  culprit 
and  prisoner,  as  feud  and  faction  tore  asunder  that  struggling 
colony  on  the  narrow  Isthmus. 

Such,  too,  were  scores  and  hundreds  of  others — the  dupes 
of  false  rumors,  the  sport  of  baseless  promises.  Led  out  by  the 
hope  of  treasure  and  the  possibility  of  rebuilding  ruined  fortunes 
they  braved  every  danger  and  essayed  the  most  reckless  endeav- 
ors. The  old  records  teem  with  their  stories,  compounded  of 
mingled  valor  and  rapacity,  greed  and  bravery.  Morales  and 
the  spoil  of  the  Pearl  Islands,  Badajos  and  the  gold  of  Parita, 
Gil  Gonzales  and  the  treasures  of  Nicaragua,  Grijalva  and  the 
tribute  of  Vera  Cruz,  Guzman  and  the  torture-wrung  "  presents  " 
of  New  Galicia  —  the  list  could  be  extended  for  pages,  fascinat- 
ing as  a  romance  of  the  paladins,  repulsive  in  the  realism  of 
brutality,  replete  with  heroism  and  suffering,  treachery  and 
cruelty,  valor  and  strategy  and  the  dash  of  daring  deeds. 


5o  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

But  always,  in  all  this  bravery,  endurance  and  show  of  cour- 
age the  deadly  canker  was  at  work  —  the  greed  for  gold  that, 
ever,  with  the  conquistador  went  hand  in  hand  with  love  of 
glory.  Once  again  was  the  Scripture  fulfilled :  the  love  of 
money  was,  indeed,  the  root  of  all  the  evil  that  to  this  day  has 
sullied  the  record  of  Spanish  pluck  and  Spanish  valor  in 
America.  It  made  of  the  cavalier  a  brute,  of  the  knight  a 
vulture,  of  the  hidalgo  a  worse  than  murderer.  It  changed 
trusting  natives  into  implacable  foemen,  it  engendered  hateful 
rivalries  between  leaders  and  turned  the  swords  of  comrades 
against  one  another's  breasts. 

O 

It  embittered  the  life  of  Columbus,  wrecked  the  fame  of 
Cortez  and  poisoned  the  glory  of  Alvarado.  It  did  to  death 
Balboa  and  Pizarro,  Olid  and  Nicuesa,  Garay  and  Ponce  de 
Leon,  Coronado  and  De  Soto.  It  has  linked  with  the  memories 
of  the  boldest  and  bravest  the  never-dying  scorn  that  a  world, 
loving  gain  and  gold,  still  visits  upon  the  usurer,  the  extortioner 
and  the  assassin.  It  has  capped  the  most  marvelous  of  con- 
quests with  the  greatest  and  basest  of  crimes. 

While  rightly  the  story  of  the  old  conquistador es  belongs  to 
the  regions  round  about  the  Indies  —  to  Mexico  and  the  Antil- 
les, to  the  Isthmus  and  the  western  coasts  of  South  America  — 
still,  across  the  page  of  Northern  story,  falls  the  shadow  of  the 
Spanish  warrior,  defiant  alike  in  exploration,  in  conquest  and 
in  defeat.  The  glitter  of  Spanish  armor  and  the  gleam  of  Span- 
ish spur  make  picturesque  the  earlier  annals  of  North  American 
occupation  when  the  golden  banner  of  Spain  floated  above 
regions  claimed  for  Cross  and  King  beyond  the  Capes  of 
Florida,  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  and  by  the  waters  of 
the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk.  The  iron  heel  of  Spanish  con- 
quest left  its  enduring  imprint  upon  lands  that  have  for  genera- 


THE   CONQUJSTADORES.  51 

tions  acknowledged  occupation  only  by  France  or  England  and 
the  colonizers  of  the  seventeenth  century  found  in  the  names 
that  they  presumed  to  be  strictly  Indian  the  traces  of  Spanish 
occupation  and  conquest  of  a  far  earlier  day.  But  no  one  of 
these  misty  exploits  rose  to  the  importance  or  achieved  the 
reputation  of  that  wasteful,  cruel,  heroic  and  historic  march 
made  in  the  mid-years  of  the  sixteenth  century  by  De  Soto  and 
his  men. 

It  is  a  stirring  story  and  one  that  always  bears  retelling. 
Westward  from  San  Lucar,  that  port  of  Seville  from  which  had 
gone  across  the  broad  Atlantic  so  many  ambitious  cavaliers  of 
Spain  as  full  of  hope,  as  certain  of  success  as  these,  sailed 
Hernando  de  Soto  and  six  hundred  fighting  men.  Re-embarking 
at  Havana,  nearly  a  thousand  strong,  the  expedition  steered 
for  its  promised  land  and  on  the  thirtieth  of  May,  1539,  landed 
on  the  Florida  coast,  just  east  of  the  Everglades  in  that  section 
of  the  State  now  known  as  Hillsborough  Bay. 

It  was  the  most  formidable  expedition  yet  organized  in 
America  for  conquest.  Every  man  was  a  fighter;  there  were 
few  gray  hairs  in  the  whole  army,  and  at  its  head  stood  Her- 
nando de  Soto,  one  of  the  conquerors  of  Peru,  a  man  amply 
qualified  to  lead  a  gallant  host  to  victorious  deeds.  "  In  fame,'1 
says  Dr.  Monette,  "  he  almost  equalled  the  conquerors  of  Mexico 
and  Peru  themselves ;  in  courage  and  perseverance  he  was  not 
less.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  manhood  and  only  waited  some 
fit  opportunity  to  signalize  himself  and  hand  down  his  fame  to 
posterity  equally  brilliant  with  that  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro." 

Whatever  was  needful  for  an  expedition  of  such  magnitude 
was  not  lacking.  There  were  wood-workers  and  iron-workers, 
there  were  chemists  and  miners,  scholars  and  priests;  there 
were  tools  for  the  builders,  there  was  apparatus  for  assaying  the 


52  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

"  find  "  in  gold  and  silver  they  were  determined  to  obtain; 
there  were  chains  and  fetters  for  the  captives,  bloodhounds  to 
pull  them  clown,  cards  for  the  games  of  chance  on  which  their 
captors  might  stake  and  hazard  them.  Nothing,  it  is  asserted, 
was  omitted  from  the  "  furniture  "  of  the  expedition  "  which  ex- 
perience could  suggest  or  avarice  and  cruelty  could  dictate." 
The  warm  sun  of  Florida  flashed  down  on  the  steel  armor  of 
the  cavaliers  glittering  with  gold ;  on  coats  of  mail,  on  helmets, 
on  breastplates  and  on  shields;  lance  and  broadsword,  spear 
and  cimeter  gleamed  in  warlike  hands;  cross-bow  and  arquebuse 
rested  upon  many  a  stalwart  shoulder  and  "  stimulated  by  the 
love  of  fame  and  still  more  bv  the  love  of  <?'old,  this  roving  band 

^  O  O 

of  gallant  freebooters  plunged  into  the  savage  wilds  "  in  which 
they  expected  to  find  empires  more  magnificent  and  treasure 
more  abundant  than  their  comrades  had  wrested  from  the  con- 
quered "  emperors  "  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 

There  was  little  at  their  landing-place  on  Hillsborough  Bay 
to  suggest  treasure  or  empire.  And  from  there  even  to  the  end 
the  Spaniards  were  the  dupes  of  the  tribes  they  sought  to  con- 
quer and  did  so  cruelly  maltreat.  Grown  wary  through  experi- 
ence of  the  tortures  of  earlier  white  visitors  —  the  credulous 
Ponce  de  Leon,  the  brutal  Ayllon,  the  wretched  Narvaez  —  the 
Florida  Indians  sought  to  rid  themselves  of  these  latest  comers 
by  alluring  stories  of  great  cities  and  vast  treasures  to  the  north 
or  west  —  "just  beyond!"  So,  "just  beyond,"  this  brilliant 
cavalcade  was  ever  pushing,  westward  and  yet  further  west- 
ward, growing  each  day  less  brilliant,  each  day  more  desperate. 
Through  morass  and  swamp  and  dreary  waste  of  sand,  through 
tangled  thicket  and  interminable  forest,  fording  rivers,  climbing 
mountains,  fighting  hostile  hosts,  always  expectant,  but  with 
never  a  touch  of  the'  coveted  gold,  with  never  a  sight  of  the 


7  //A    CONQ  U  1ST  AD  ORES. 


53 


gorgeous  cities,  they  struggled  on  —  a  band  of  baffled  ma- 
rauders, grown  more  desperate  with  each  day's  disappointment, 
more  cruel  with  each  savage  struggle  for  supremacy.  For  three 
weary  years  the  zigzag  hunt  for  fortune  went  slowly  on.  Up 
and  down  the  land  where  perpetual  summer  reigns,  over  that 
section  of  our  Southern  country  now  known  as  the  States  of 
Florida,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana 
and  Arkansas 
they  wandered 
on,  a  fellowship 
of  valorous  fight- 
ers vainly  seek- 
ing for  the  im- 
possible. 

At  last  came 
the  tragedy.  One 
by  one  cavalier 
and  artisan, 
spearman  and 
priest  dropped  by 

the  way.  The  bones  of  their  stern  but  gallant  commander 
were  lowered  into  their  last  resting-place,  beneath  the  yellow 
waters  of  the  mighty  Mississippi ;  the  wildernesses  of  the  far  Red 
River  country  forever  dispelled  the  promise  of  gold  or  empire  ; 
and,  with  desire,  effort  and  endurance  alike  dead  within  them, 
tattered,  beggared,  travel-worn  and  utterly  disheartened,  still 
fighting  their  inveterate  Indian  foemen  till  the  hated  land  faded 
in  the  distance,  they  floated  down  the  great  river  to  the  greater 
Gulf  and  to  the  ports  of  friendly  Mexico  —  a  miserable  remnant 


THE   FIRST    XVHITK   MAN 


54  THE    CONQUISTADORES. 

of  the  gallant  array  of  sflitterins:  cavaliers  to  whom  San  Lucar 

^5  ^  <_?  <_> 

and  Havana  had  bidden  such  hearty  godspeed  and  farewell. 

In  all  history  there  is  scarcely  to  be  found  a  sadder  example 
of  high  hopes  brought  to  ruin,  of  golden  expectations  unful- 
filled. It  is  a  story  bright  with  heroic  exploits,  black  with  per- 
fidious deeds.  "  The  governor,"  says  Orviedo,  his  chronicler, 
"  was  very  fond  of  this  sport  of  killing  Indians ;  '"  and  the 
marks  of  "  the  governor's  sport  "  have  streaked  the  winding 
trail  of  his  wanderings  with  blood  and  left  an  irradicable  stain 

O 

upon  his  memory. 

Brighter  even  than  the  story  of  Spanish  heroism  is  the 
record  of  Indian  patriotism.  Step  by  step,  through  all  these 
three  years  of  wandering  did  the  warlike  tribes  of  the  South, 
sinking  their  hereditary  feuds,  combine  to  repel  the  white  in- 
vader. Stubbornly,  tenaciously,  heroically  they  contested  the 
possession  of  their  home-land  and  the  bloody  battle  of  Mauvilla, 
only  saved  to  Spain  by  the  charges  of  the  resistless  cavalry, 
proved  the  mettle,  the  valor  and  the  self-devotion  of  the  native 
American  soldier. 

What  De  Soto  was,  what  were  Ayllon  and  Guzman,  Ojeda 
and  Balboa,  Ponce  de  Leon  and  de  Cordova,  Narvaez  and 
Cabeza  de  Vaca,  that,  also,  were  the  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  others  —  fighting  men  and  adventurers  of  every  rank  and  of 
every  grade  in  life — who  essayed  to  win  fame  and  fortune  in 
the  New  World  and  who,  because  of  their  valiant  and  intrepid 
deeds,  their  heroic  achievements  and  profitless  accumulations, 
their  high-sounding  titles,  and  never-weakening  bombast,  their 
marches  and  their  battles,  their  rivalries  and  their  feuds,  have 
ever  been  remembered  under  the  name  they  coveted  - —  el 
conquistadores,  the  conquerors. 

With  vast  opportunities  for  bloodless  and   peaceable   con- 


THE   CONQUISTADORES.  55 

quest,  for  Christian  enlightenment  and  a  gentler  civilization 
they  wrecked  their  mighty  chances  on  the  fatal  reefs  of  greed. 
Never  conquerors  over  themselves  they  have  gone  into  history 
as  destroyers  and  braggarts  where  they  should  have  been  up- 
builders  and  gentlemen.  The  boast  of  one  of  them :  "  I  am 
not  merely  a  De  Soto  —  though  that,  by  St.  James,  were 
enough  for  any  man.  I  am  a  Sotomayor,  a  Mendoza,  a  Bova- 
dilla,  a  Losada,  a  —  sir!  I  have  blood  royal  in  my  veins,  and 
you  dare  to  refuse  my  challenge,"  was  fitly  answered  by  the 
response  of  a  noble  Englishman  :  "  Richard  Grenville  can  show 
quarterings,  probably,  against  even  Don  Guzman  Maria  Magda- 
lena  Sotomayor  de  Soto,  or  against  the  bluest  blood  of  Spain. 
But  he  can  show,  moreover,  thank  God,  a  reputation  which 
raises  him  as  much  above  the  imputation  of  cowardice,  as  it 
does  above  that  of  discourtesy." 

Still,  with  all  their  shortcomings  —  their  vices,  their  cruel- 
ties, their  greed,  their  bombast,  their  bigotries  and  their  credu- 
lity the  old  Conquistadores  were  a  valiant  and  picturesque  lot. 
If  their  record  is  smirched  with  tyranny  and  their  valor  is 
dimmed  with  blood,  their  ancestry  and  environments  may  be 
proffered  as  at  once  the  reason  and  the  excuse.  They  were,  at 
least,  the  first  link  in  the  chain  of  fighting  men  that  joins  the 
new  America  to  the  old  and  have  therefore  due  claim  to  a 
prominent  place  in  our  story  as  typical  of  that  savagely  pict- 
uresque life,  when  as  Maurice  Thompson  tells  us  "  priests  were 
pirates  and  gentlemen  were  robbers "  —  those  romantic  if 
brutal  days  when,  according  to  Theodore  Irving,  "  the  knight- 
errantry  of  the  Old  World  was  carried  into  the  depths  of  the 
American  wilderness." 


CHAPTER    III. 


COLONIAL    FIGHTING-MEN. 


HE  claim  of  Spain  to  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Western  world  was 
not  long  to  remain  undisputed. 
The  audacious  "  Bull "  of  that 
Pope  of  Rome,  Alexander  vi.,  — 
•  who,  himself  a  Spaniard  and  the 
favorer  of  his  native  land,  sought 
to  make  all  America  Iberian - 
was  a  challenge  to  all  the  foes  of 
Spain.  And  of  these  none  were 

hotter,  none  more  fierce  than  the  daring  spirits  of  England  and 
of  France. 

At  once  ships  and  sailors,  adventurers  and  fighters  sailed 
over-sea  in  the  very  track  of    Columbus's  caravels.     Rivalries 

J 

led  to  entanglements  and  these  to  relentless  wars  ;  and  while 
those  summer  seas  that  men  call  the  Spanish  Main  grew  red 
with  blood  as  Avarice  grappled  with  Greed,  and  Spanish  Blood- 
hounds snarled  at  English  Mastiffs,  still  further  to  the  north, 
in  Canada  and  Virginia  and  along  the  Atlantic  sea-board,  the 
flao-s  of  France  and  England  floated  above  struggling  settle- 

o  o  oo         o 

ment  and  seaward-looking  fort.  After  the  first  flush  of  disap- 
pointment at  their  failure  to  discover  the  always-coveted  gold 

56 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  57 

had  passed  the  freebooter  gave  place  to  the  trader;  explorers 
became  occupiers  and  adventurers  settled  down  as  colonists. 

But,  whether  as  adventurer,  trader  or  colonist,  life  in  the 
New  World  was  ever  precarious.  To  the  danger  of  Indian 
attack  and  the  personal  jealousies  of  the  settlers  were  added 
the  race  feuds,  the  religious  differences  and  the  international 
hostilities  that  made  the  American  continent  a  continual  bat- 
tle-ground. For  years  one  could  scarcely  dare  assert  what  flag 
might  on  the  morrow  float  above  the  colony  of  which  he  was  a 
part.  On  the  pine-fringed  northern  border  Frenchman  and 
Englishman  struggled  for  the  possession  of  Canada  and  with 
defensive  fortresses  fronted  each  other  on  the  broken  Maine 
coast.  The  valiant  Champlain  and  the  fiery  Frontenac  made 
for  themselves  glorious  records  as  loyal  captains  of  France  and 
only  the  unyielding  hostility  of  the  warlike  Iroquois  kept  them 
from  the  conquest  of  the  English  border-lands.  Farther  to  the 
south  Dutchman  and  Englishman  quarreled  as  to  the  right  of 
occupancy  and  colonization  in  the  lands  about  the  Connecticut 
and  the  Manhattans.  Dutchman  and  Swede  grappled  over  the 
problem  as  to  which  was  to  have  and  which  to  hold  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware.  Rival  English  factions  disputed  over  their 
rights  on  the  Chesapeake  and,  to  the  still  further  south,  first 
Spaniard  and  Frenchman  and  then  Spaniard  and  Englishman 
fought  for  Florida  and  the  Gulf,  making  the  story  of  Southern 
occupation  a  fearful  tragedy,  stained  with  the  blood  of  the 
victims  of  such  a  butcher  as  Menendez  and  the  revenges  of 
such  an  assassin  as  Gourges. 

These  continual  disturbances,  no  less  than  the  ever-present 
horrors  of  Indian  hostilities,  made  every  colonist  of  necessity  a 
fighter.  The  trusty  matchlock  was  as  indispensable  a  piece  of 
church  equipment  as  psalter  and  prayer-book,  and,  after  the 


58  COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN. 

stern  manner  of  those  days  of  trial,  the  stoutest  arm  and  the 
sturdiest  frame  were  the  defense  and  stay  of  every  settlement. 
The  block-house  and  the  palisaded  fort  were  near  at  hand  for 
convenient  retreat  and  shelter,  while  every  church  that  crested 
the  hill-top  was  sanctuary  and  bristling  arsenal  as  well. 

Such  a  strong  support  —  stout  of  arm  and  sturdy  of  frame 
—  was  that  doughty  Puritan  fighter,  Miles  Standish,  the  Cap- 
tain  of  Plymouth.  Longfellow's  portraiture  might  apply  to 
many  another  hardy  leader  of  the  colonial  fighting-men  of  those 
earlier  days : 

"  Short  of  stature  he  was,  but  strongly  built  and  athletic, 
Broad  in  the  shoulders,  deep-chested,  with  muscles  and  sinews  of , iron  ; 
Brown  as  a  nut  was  his  face,  but  his  russet  beard  was  already 
Flaked  with  patches  of  snow,  as  hedges  sometimes  in  November." 

Many  another,  too,  might  be  able  to  make  his  professional 
boast : 

"  Look  at  these  arms,"  lie  said,  "  the  warlike  weapons  that  hang  here 
Burnished  and  bright  and  clean,  as  if  for  parade  or  inspection  ! 
So  I  take  care  of  my  arms  as  you  of  your  pens  and  your  mkhorn. 
Then,  too,  there  are  my  soldiers,  my  great,  invincible  army, 
Twelve  men,  all  equipped,  having  each  his  rest  and  his  matchlock, 
Eighteen  shillings  a  month,  together  with  diet  and  pillage, 
And,  like  Caesar,  I  know  the  name  of  each  of  my  soldiers  ! 


Look  !  you  can  see  from  this  window  my  brazen  howitzer  planted 
High  on  the  roof  of  the  church,  a  preacher  who  speaks  to  the  purpose, 
Steady,  straightforward,  and  strong,  with  irresistible  logic, 
Orthodox,  flashing  conviction  right  into  the  hearts  of  the  heathen. 
Let  them  come,  if  they  like,  and  the  sooner  they  try  it  the  better,  — 
Let  them  come,  if  they  like,  be  it  sagamore,  sachem  or  pow-wow, 
Aspinet,  Samoset,  Corbitant,  Squanto,  or  Tokamahamon  !  " 

As  quick,  as  choleric  and  as  impetuous,  too,  was  many  an- 
other Colonial  captain,  with  just  as  peculiar  and  by  no  means 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  59 

kid-gloved  methods  of  dealing  with  the  Indian  foeman.  The 
stalwart  Captain  of  Plymouth  had  little  sympathy  with  the 
school  of  Las  Casas  and  Eliot.  Listen,  as  he  sounds  his  de- 
fiance in  the  council : 

"  What !  do  you  mean  to  make  war  with  milk  and  the  water  of  roses? 

Is  it  to  shoot  red  squirrels  you  have  your  howitzer  planted 

There  on  the  roof  of  the  church,  or  is  it  to  shoot  red  devils  ? 

Truly  the  only  tongue  that  is  understood  by  a  savage 

Must  be  the  tongue  of  fire  that  speaks  from  the  mouth  of  the  cannon! 

I^eave  this  matter  to  me,  for  to  me  by  right  it  pertaineth. 
War  is  a  terrible  trade  ;  but  in  the  cause  that  is  righteous, 
Sweet  is  the  smell  of  powder;  and  thus  I  answer  the  challenge  !" 

Then  from  the  rattlesnake's  skin,  with  a  sudden,  contemptuous  gesture, 

Jerking  the  Indian  arrows,  he  filled  it  with  powder  and  bullets 

Full  to  the  very  jaws,  and  handed  it  back  to  the  savage, 

Saying,  in  thundering  tones  :  "  Here,  take  it !  this  is  your  answer !  " 

Such  a  fighter,  though  a  much  greater  braggart,  was  Cap- 
tain John  Smith,  the  "  paladin  "  of  Virginia.  Such,  too,  was 
Captain  John  Mason,  of  the  Connecticut  colony,  victor  in  the 
Pequot  War ;  and  such  were  Captain  Benjamin  Church,  the 
conqueror  of  "  King  "  Philip,  Captain  %t  Nat  "  Bacon,  the  bril- 
liant young  Virginia  fighter  and  leader  in  a  somewhat  remark- 
able rebellion,  and  Major  Thomas  Trueman,  of  Maryland,  the 
murderer  of  the  Susquehannoughs.  Intrepid,  deliberate  and 
relentless,  hating  an  Indian  even  more  cordially  than  a  "  pa- 
pist," their  methods  were  short,  sharp  and  decisive,  and  to  their 
tactics  and  their  peculiar  plans  of  action  is  due,  very  largely, 
the  heritage  of  the  America^  nation  in  Indian  hatreds  and 
Indian  wars. 

Of  all  the  fighting  governors  of  colonial  times  Oglethorpe 
was  the  most  heroic,  Stuyvesant  the  most  picturesque.  Andros, 
with  a  full  share  of  the  belligerent  spirit,  was  no  match  for  a 


6o 


COL  ONIAL   FIG  HI  'ING-MEN. 


determined  people  ;  Berkeley,  a  type  of  the  old-time  tyrant,  could 
have  made  no  head  against  the  patriotism  of  Bacon,  had  not 
death  stepped  in  as  his  ally.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  royal  govern- 
ors, with  the  exception  of  Oglethorpe  and  Bienville,  could  sue- 


THE    REVOLT    OF   THE   TRAIN-BANDS       "  I.EISLER,    YOU    MUST    LKM)    US  !  " 

cessfully  direct  the  war-spirit  that  slumbered  in  the  breasts  of 
colonial  trader  and  husbandman.  It  needed  the  deeper  and 
underlying  home  interests  of  native  or  naturalized  governors 
to  lead  their  neighbors  to  action  and  to  victory.  It  was  Leis- 
ler,  of  New  York,  the  "people's  governor,"  a  captain  in  the 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  61 

city  train-bands,  who  awakened  in  his  fellow-countrymen  the 
first  desires  for  personal  liberty  and  organized  the  first  really 
offensive  measures  against  the  French  power  in  Canada.  It 
was  Pepperell,  the  Maine  merchant  and  militiaman,  who  at 
last  brought  this  struggle  for  supremacy  to  a  crisis  and,  con- 
queror of  Louisburg,  was  the  earliest  of  the  native  generals 
of  his  King. 

For  our  present  purpose  it  will  be  sufficient  to  give  brief 
mention  here  to  two  of  the  colonial  leaders  —  types  of  the 
foreign  and  the  native  stock  --  who  developed  the  martial  spirit 
in  the  people  and  made  out  of  colonists  and  farmers  the  first 
real  American  soldiers.  These  shall  be  James  Edward  Ogle- 
thorpe  and  William  Pepperell. 

Born  to  a  love  of  arms,  a  daring  commander  of  men  and  a 
soldier  of  tried  experience  in  European  wars  Oglethorpe  yet 
came  to  the  government  of  his  Georgia  colony  desiring  only 
peace,  substantial  growth  and  the  good-will  of  men.  That  he 
was  forced  into  prominence  as  a  successful  commander  was  due 
to  the  aggressions  of  the  power  of  Spain. 

Alarmed  at  the  growth  of  English  colonization  in  the  South 
the  Spanish  rulers  in  Cuba  and  Florida  determined  to  crush 
out  the  Saxon.  Hostilities  were  not  long  in  commencing. 
Frederica  and  Saint  Augustine  were  not  far  apart  and  the 
Spanish  attacks  on  the  Georgia  settlements  were  speedily  fol- 
lowed by  the  English  assault  on  the  Florida  fortress. 

Oglethorpe  was  the  soul  of  this  latter  movement.  The 
friend  of  the  Wesleys  and  of  Whitfield  and  an  ardent  desirer 
of  peace  for  his  colony  he  was  above  all  a  soldier.  If  Spain 
determined  for  war,  war  she  should  have.  His  investment  of 
St.  Augustine  was  brilliant  and  strategic.  Had  he  but  been 
properly  supported  by  his  associates  and  subordinates  the  era 


62  COLONIAL    FIGHTING-MEN. 

of  Spanish  occupation  in  North  America  would  have  come  to 
an  end  lonsj  before  its  lingering  death  nearly  half  a  century 
later. 

But  though  St.  Augustine  did  not  surrender  Oglethorpe 's 
energetic  measures  bore  instant  fruit.  Men  saw  that  the  aide- 

O 

de-camp  of  Prince  Eugene,  the  hero  of  Belgrade,  had  lost 
nothing  of  his  old-time  valor.  Spain  awoke  to  the  fact  that 
she  must  needs  increase  her  power  if  she  wished  to  overcome 
this  old  fighter  of  the  Turks.  Forced  to  the  defensive  until 

o 

such  time  as  they  were  able  to  prepare  a  strong  and  formidable 
armament  the  Spaniards  for  two  years  longer  kept  behind  their 
stone  walls.  At  last,  in  the  summer  of  1742,  they  gathered  for 
the  decisive  blow.  In  that  year  this  new  Spanish  Armada 
sailed  from  Havana  well  equipped  for  the  final  and  utter  ex- 
tinction of  the  English  power  in  the  South. 

But  the  spirit  of  his  ancestors  lived  in  the  gallant  English- 
man. As  the  Oglethorpes  of  Surrey  "  in  days  of  good  Queen 
Bess "  had  rallied  to  the  resistance  of  the  first  and  greater 

o 

Armada  so  he,  too,  determined  upon  an  heroic  stand.  "  If  we 
have  no  succor,"  he  wrote,  "  all  we  can  do  is  to  die  bravely  in 
His  Majesty's  service." 

The  Spanish  fleet  of  fifty-one  sail,  carrying  a  force  of  nearly 
five  thousand  soldiers,  bore  down  upon  the  Georgia  coast. 
Oglethorpe  had  but  six  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  a  few  small 
vessels.  Men  looked  to  see  the  Georgia  colony  go  down  in 
blood  before  the  force  of  Spain. 

But  to  a  hero  nothing  is  impossible.  "  With  a  bravery  and 
dash  almost  beyond  comprehension,"  says  Mr.  Jones,  "  by 
strategy  most  admirable,  Oglethorpe  by  a  masterly  disposition 
of  the  troops  at  command,  coupled  with  the  timidity  of  the 
invaders  and  the  dissensions  which  arose  in  their  ranks,  before 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  63 

the  middle  of  July  put  the  entire  Spanish  army  and  navy  to 
flight." 

His  personal  daring  turned  the  battle  of  the  Bloody  Marsh 
from  a  rout  to  a  victory  ;  his  inspiring  courage  beat  back  the 
Spanish  galleys  from  an  attack  on  Frederica  and  led  the  pur- 
suit under  the  very  guns  of  their  war-ships ;  his  pluck,  his  shrewd- 
ness and  his  ability  to  seize  upon  opportunities  at  just  the  right 
moment  dismayed  and  confounded  the  Spanish  commanders 
and  absolutely  drove  away  the  invading  army  at  the  very 
instant  when  they  might  have  struck  a  crippling  blow  and 
obtained  a  certain  victory.  There  is  much  of  truth,  notwith- 
standing the  apparent  exaggeration,  in  \\  hitfield's  enthusiastic 
comment :  "  The  deliverance  of  Georgia  from  the  Spaniards  is 
such  as  cannot  be  paralleled  but  by  some  instances  out  of  the 
Old  Testament."  And  Mr.  Lodge  asserts  that  "  Oglethorpe 
saved  two  provinces  to  England  by  as  gallant  fighting  and 
shrewd  generalship  as  the  whole  history  of  the  American 
colonies  can  show.  A  brave  soldier,  an  honest,  upright,  kind- 
hearted  gentleman,"  so  Mr.  Lodge  declares,  "he  is  a  man  whom 
any  State  might  regard  with  reverence  and  admiration  as  its 
founder,  first  ruler  and  defender." 

Of  a  different  character  but  no  less  the  gentleman  and  the 
soldier  was  William  Pepperell,  the  merchant  of  Portsmouth,  in 
New  Hampshire.  A  colonial  shop-keeper  with  but  little  knowl- 
edge of  war,  honored  and  respected  rather  because  of  his 
thirty  years  of  service  as  an  upright  judge  and  a  successful 
political  adviser  than  for  his  acquaintance  with  military  needs 
and  tactics  Pepperell  was  placed  in  command  of  the  land  forces 
in  New  England's  greatest  crusade  against  Canada. 

So  skillfully  did  he  conduct  his  part  of  the  operations  that 
the  strong  fortress  of  Louisburg  on  Cape  Breton  —  the  bul- 


64  COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN. 

wark  of  Canada -- fell  after  an  almost  bloodless  siege  of  fifty 
days.  "  It  was  a  gallant  exploit,"  says  Mr.  Lodge,  "almost  the 
only  glory  of  an  unsuccessful  war."  The  greatest  triumph  of 
colonial  fighting-days  was  secured  by  an  undisciplined  army 
"  of  New  England  mechanics  and  farmers  and  fishermen  "  led 
on  by  a  Yankee  merchant. 

It  was  really  the  first  American  army.  Leisler's  force  of 
invasion,  which  a  half-century  before  had  failed  through  colonial 
jealousies  and  wrecked  the  mighty  purpose  of  its  energetic  pro- 
moter, could  scarcely  assert  its  claim  to  be  esteemed  an  American 
army.  Pepperell's  men  were  largely  native-born.  And  Wil- 
liam Pepperell,  tradesman  though  he  was,  may  safely  be  con- 
sidered as  the  first  native  military  leader  produced  by  the 
colonies.  Other  commanders  of  American  birth  there  had 
been  but  none  had  as  yet  been  selected  for  so  exalted  a  position. 
The  titled  adventurers  who  were  royal  governors  by  favor  of 
the  king  of  England  were  far  too  anxious  themselves  to  pose  as 
leaders  and  commanders  to  permit  any  mere  "  provincial  " 
to  usurp  their  dignities.  It  is  therefore  to  the  credit  of  Shirley, 
the  King's  Governor  in  Massachusetts  and  himself  no  mean 
soldier,  that  in  the  famous  expedition  against  Louisburg  he 
should  have  selected  for  chief  command  so  able  a  native  Ameri- 
can as  William  Pepperell.  This  Canadian  success  led  to  imme- 
diate honors.  The  victorious  commander  was  created  Sir 
William  Pepperell.  He  was  acting  governor  of  the  colony  of 
Massachusetts  and  in  1757  he  was  commissioned  as  lieutenant- 
general  and  commander  of  the  Massachusetts  militia,  now 
grown  to  over  seven  thousand  men.  He  died  on  the  very  eve 
of  the  victorious  campaign  that  gave  Canada  to  England. 

Oglethorpe  and  Pepperell,  however,  were  but  the  accom- 
paniments and  the  outgrowth  of  the  years  that  were  opening 


J 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  67 

the  way  for  the  real  American  soldier.  The  hardships,  the 
struggles,  the  defeats  and  the  slow  successes  of  colonial  life 
brought  to  the  service  many  leaders  skilled  in  border  war  and 
toughened  the  temper  of  men  from  whom  sturdy  fighters  came. 
Miles  Standish's  thirteen  men,  his  "great,  invincible  army," 
could  be  duplicated  in  every  one  of  the  struggling  settlements 
that  looked  out  to  the  eastward  upon  the  stormy  Atlantic  and 
westward  into  the  no  less  dangerous  wilderness.  From  these 
slender  homeguards  grew,  in  time,  the  provincial  militia-men 
who  volunteered  for  the  wars  against  France  and  Spain  and 
prepared  the  way  for  the  greater  revolution. 

But  not  always  in  fighting  Indians  or  invading  hostile 
lands  were  the  colonial  fighting-men  in  arms.  Too  often  were 
these  arms  turned  against  one  another.  In  jealousies  of  office 
and  in  border  disputes,  in  hair-brained  endeavors  and  in  open 
rebellion,  time  upon  time,  did  brother  face  brother  and  neighbor 
neighbor  in  the  hot  encounters  of  those  earliest  days. 

The  very  composition  of  the  several  colonies  fomented  dis- 
content. The  mixed  character  of  the  settlers  aggravated 
disorder.  From  the  time  of  beginnings,  when  Captain  John 
Smith  of  the  Virginia  colony  —  "  an  adventurer  of  a  high  order 
in  an  age  of  adventurers" — came  into  direct  conflict  with 
Governor  Wingfield  and  his  other  associates,  down  to  that 
later  day,  when  in  Boston  streets  Crispus  Attucks  and  his 
riotous  companions  faced,  and  fell  before  a  platoon  of  British 
soldiers,  dissatisfaction,  jealousies,  desire  and  unrest  stirred  up 
continual  strife  which  not  unfrequently  blazed  out  into  open 
rebellion.  Chief  among  these  popular  uprisings,  according  to 
chronological  order,  were  :  the  Ingle  roysterings  in  Maryland 
in  1645,  *he  Bacon  rebellion  in  Virginia  in  1675,  the  Culpepper 
revolt  in  North  Carolina  in  1677,  ^e  revolt  of  the  people 


68  COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN. 

against  aristocratic  oppression  in  1689  — led  by  Bradstreet  in 
Massachusetts  and  Leisler  in  New  York;  the  race  "rebellion  " 
of  Father  Sebastian  Rasle  in  Maine  in  1724,  the  election  riots 
in  Pennsylvania  in  1739,  the  bloody  march  of  the  "  Paxton 
Boys"  on  Philadelphia  in  1763,  and  the  revolt  of  the  Regula- 
tors in  South  Carolina  in  1764.  The  fight  at  Golden  Hill,  in 
New  York  City,  and  the  Boston  Massacre  —  both  disturbances 
of  the  year  1770,  and  both  rather  vaingloriously  claimed 
as  "  the  first  blood  of  the  Revolution"  -fitly  closed  an  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  of  struggle,  sedition  and  dispute. 

But,  through  all  these  (by  means,  even,  of  some  of  them) 
was  the  mixed  condition  of  colonial  society  merging  into  some- 
thing definite,  into  something  American.  As  it  took  an  hun- 
dred years  and  more  to  make  of  the  caste-hedged  emigrant  of 
Europe  a  free  American,  so,  too,  did  it  need  fully  a  century  of 
emergencies  to  mold  from  the  pioneer,  the  borderer  and  the 
partisan  the  real  American  soldier.  For  years  the  American 
colonist  was  but  a  transplanted  Englishman,  an  expatriated 
Dutchman,  an  "  assisted  "  German,  Frenchman  or  Swede. 
These  fought,  when  necessity  compelled  them,  against  Indian 
marauder  or  border  enemy;  they  resisted,  when  personal  griev- 
ances inflamed  or  local  leaders  uro-ed  them,  the  invasion  of  their 

O 

assumed  "rights,"  but  they  never  marched,  as  Americans,  step 
to  step  and  shoulder  to  shoulder,  until  the  final  invasion  of 
Canada  and  the  first  drum-beats  of  revolution  cemented  them 
together  as  Americans,  as  brothers  conscious  of  their  own 
strength  and  needs. 

It  was  this  lack  of  union  that  brought  the  rebellion  of  Bacon 
and  the  bold  stand  of  Leisler  to  naught.  And  though  each 

O  O 

colony,  as  it  grew  in  numbers  and  in  strength,  organized  its 
able-bodied  fighting-men  into  some  semblance  of  a  provincial 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  69 

militia,  these  "bulwarks  of  the  state"  did  but  little  in  the  way 
of  concerted  action,  and  did  that  little  grudgingly.  It  takes 
a  great  motive  to  change  a  partisan  into  a  patriot. 

As,  around  its  church  or  block-house  or  ragged  fort  of  logs, 
each  struggling  settlement  grew,  the  earlier  home-guards  — 
which  might  be  Captain  Standish's 

"  Twelve  men,  all  equipped,  having  each  his  rest  and  his  matchlock. 
Eighteen  shillings  a  month,  together  with  diet  and  pillage," 

or  might  be  the  "  three  and  fifty  raw  and  tired  Marylanders  " 
whom  "  that  noble,  right  valiant,  and  politic  soldier  "  Thomas 
Cornwallis  led  against  the  Susquehannas —  developed  into 
the  Train-Bands  or  Military-Bands  common  to  each  colony. 

While  from  time  to  time  the  red-coat  garrisons  of  the  king 
became  familiar  sights  in  the  larger  towns,  it  was  chiefly  upon 
these  Train- Bands,  made  up  of  their  own  numbers,  that  the 
people  of  the  colonies  depended  for  their  military  strength. 
u  We  know,  from  more  than  one  incident,"  says  Mr.  Doyle, 
"  that  there  was  no  lack  of  individual  courage  or  soldierly  skill 
among  the  settlers." 

In  every  province  the  able-bodied  male  "  freeholders  "  were 
held  subject  to  military  duty.  When  occasion  demanded  they 
could  be  called  upon  for  active  service.  The  charter  of  the 
Maryland  province  invested  the  proprietors  with  the  right  to 
"  call  out  and  arm  the  whole  fighting  population,  wage  war, 
take  prisoners,  and  slay  alien  enemies  ;  also  to  exercise  martial 
law  in  case  of  insurrection."  In  Massachusetts  each  town,  from 
the  earliest  days,  had  its  own  military  company,  for  service  in 
which  every  man  was  liable,  excepting  the  "magistrates,  elders, 
deacons,  shipwrights,  millers  and  fishermen." 

The  law  of   1766  required  all  males  in  the  colony  to  attend 


?0  COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN. 

military  exercise  and  service.  Each  company  of  foot  in  the  colo- 
nial militia  was  composed  of  musketeers  and  pikemen ;  two 
thirds  bearing  the  matchlocks  and  the  cumbersome  "  rest,"  one 
third  carrying  the  long  and  murderous-looking  pikes,  or  spears. 

While  the  demands  of  farm  and  merchandise  were  held 
superior  to  those  of  war  and  while  the  colonist-soldier  was  ever 
slow  to  leave  these  until  their  protection  became  an  absolute 
necessity  the  records  of  those  old  days  show  the  train-band-man 
to  have  been  an  important  factor  in  the  life  and  growth  of 
every  settlement.  "  In  the  seventeenth  century,"  says  Mr. 
Lodge,  "  all  men  went  armed ;  even  the  farmers  wore  swords, 
and  the  military  spirit  was  wide-spread  and  ardent.  All  adults 
were  in  the  militia  and  the  training-day,  when  the  soldiery  went 
out  to  drill  with  pike  and  musket,  was  the  great  break  in  the 
dark  monotony  of  daily  life." 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  great  English  revolution  of  1688  —  a 
revolution  that  gave  fresh  impulse  to  the  longings  for  personal 
liberty  in  America  —  the  population  of  the  colonies  was  less 
than  two  hundred  thousand.  Of  this  number  perhaps  thirty 
thousand  may  be  considered  a  fair  estimate  for  the  fighting  pop- 
ulation—  the  persons  able  to  bear  arms.  But  of  this  latter  esti- 
mate a  small  proportion  only  were  really  men-at-arms,  members 
of  the  train-bands.  Captain  Underbill's  "army,"  which,  in  1640, 
at  the  instigation  of  the  treacherous  and  bloody-minded  Kieft 
he  led  out  from  Dutch  New  York  against  the  defenseless 

O 

Indians  thereabouts,  consisted  of  but  one  hundred  and  twenty 
men.  The  force  at  the  head  of  which  Captain  John  Mason,  in 
1637,  marched  from  the  Connecticut  country  to  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  warlike  Pequots  was  less  than  an  hundred  men. 
In  1675  the  joint  "  army  "  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and 
Plymouth,  raised  under  the  spur  of  desperate  necessity  to  fight 


COLONIAL   FJGhTING-MEN.  71 

the  Indian  warrior  Philip  of  Pokanoket  and  drawn  from  a 
population  of  some  seventy  thousand  souls,  amounted  to  but 
eleven  hundred  men.  The  six  free  companies  or  train-bands  of 
New  York  who  in  1689,  united  under  the  energetic  Leisler  to 
strike  if  need  be  for  the  Stadtholder  king  and  civil  liberty  num- 
bered less  than  five  hundred  men  ;  the  whole  provincial  force 
that  in  that  summer  of  1689  responded  to  the  summons  of  the 
first  colonial  congress  and  gathered  on  the  northern  frontier 
for  the  invasion  of  Canada  fell  far  below  the  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  men  promised  by  the  congress. 

In  fact,  no  considerable  nor  adequate  military  force  was 
enlisted  in  the  colonies  for  warlike  purposes  until  the  mid-years 
of  the  eighteenth  century  showed  to  England  and  her  colonies, 
alike,  that  if  America  was  to  be  the  heritage  of  Englishmen  the 
struggle  with  France  must  be  a  united  one  and  fought  to  the 
bitter  end.  Then,  at  last,  both  king  and  colonist  put  forth 
their  greatest  strength.  And  in  the  seven  years  of  war  that 
broke  the  power  of  France  in  America  and  ended  in  triumph 
on  the  historic  heights  of  Quebec  no  small  share  of  the  glory 
as  of  the  fighting  must  be  accorded  to  the  now-aroused  "  pro- 
vincials "  whom  British  officers  and  soldiers  so  affected  to 
despise. 

This  studied  contempt  of  regulars  for  volunteers  is  but  a 
part  of  the  always-existing  arrogance  of  military  aristocracy. 
It  held  place  in  the  legions  of  Rome  as  in  the  cohorts  of 
Xerxes  and  reaches  back  even  to  that  older  day  when  by  the 
Wells  of  Harod  the  chosen  three  hundred  of  Gideon  lapped 
the  water  "  like  a  dog  "  and  were  alone  of  all  the  Israelitish  host, 
deemed  worthy  to  fight  the  Midianites. 

But  never,  surely,  was  there  less  reason  for  this  professional 
bias  than  in  the  days  of  the  colonial  fighting-men  of  America. 


?2  COLONIAL  FIGHTING-MEN. 

It  was  the  South  Carolina  militiamen  who,  rallying  to  the 
defense  of  their  struggling  colony  in  1706,  made  so  spirited  an 
attack  upon  the  French  invaders  that  they  drove  back  Le 
Feboure  in  defeat  across  Charleston  bar  with  nearly  one  half  of 
his  eight  hundred  men  killed  or  prisoners.  It  was  the  fifty 
Carolina  volunteers  of  Governor  Moore  who,  in  1702.  plunged 
through  the  Georgia  forests  to  the  attack  of  the  boastful  Span- 
iards and  established  the  claim  of  England  to  all  the  southern 
country  as  far  as  the  walls  of  Saint  Augustine.  In  the  dis- 
astrous and  horribly  mismanaged  expedition  of  1739,  by  which 
Eno-land  was  to  conquer  the  Spanish  possessions  of  Mexico  and 
Peru,  it  was  the  "provincials"  who  won  the  only  fame  that 
came  from  that  ill-starred  endeavor  as,  all  unsupported,  they 
led  in  the  storming  of  the  San  Lazaro  fortress  of  Carthagena  ; 
while  of  the  thousands  who  left  their  bones  in  that  pestilential 
climate  nine  tenths  were  the  contemned  "  provincials."  It  was 
a  New  Hampshire  volunteer,  William  Vaughn,  who  in  the 
attack  on  Louisburg  in  1745  —  an  enterprise  in  which,  it  is 
asserted,  "  the  provincial  forces  displayed  courage,  activity  and 
fortitude  that  would  have  distinguished  veteran  troops"  —  cap- 
tured the  royal  French  battery  and  with  only  thirteen  men  held 
it  against  all  the  enemy  sent  for  its  retaking.  It  was  John 
Stark  and  his  five  hundred  New  Hampshire  foresters  who 
marched  through  the  trackless  wilderness  that  lay  between  the 
Connecticut  and  the  Hudson,  compassed  the  reduction  of  Crown 
Point  and  shed  about  the  only  light  that  fell  upon  the  disgrace- 
ful defeat  at  Ticonderos;a. 

O 

It  was  Phineas  Lyman,  the  commander  of  the  New  England 
volunteers  —  ua  man  of   uncommon   martial    endowments" 
who,  in    1755,  won   the   victory  at    Lake  George;    and,  on   the 
same  fatal  day  of  Dieskau's  defeat  it  was  Macmnnes  and  his  two 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING- MEN. 


73 


hundred  provincials  who  met  and  thoroughly  defeated  a  superior 
French  force  at  the  portage  of  Fort  Kdward.  It  was  Benjamin 
Franklin  of  Pennsylvania,  the  father  of  the  American  militia 
(of  whom  Logan  wrote :  "  I  principally  esteem  Benjamin 
Franklin  for  saving  the  country  by  his  contriving  the  militia"), 


A    MUSTER   OK   COLONIAL    MILITIA   ON    BOSTON    COMMON. 

who,  when  elected  in  1744  to  the  command  of  one  of  the  reg- 
iments he  had  raised,  declined  the  honor  of  leadership  and  him- 
self marched  in  the  ranks  and  did  his  sentry  duty,  carrying  a 
musket  as  "a  humble  volunteer."  It  was  Peyronney,  the  Vir- 
ginia captain,  who  at  Braddock's  terrible  defeat  in  1755,  "when 
those  they  call  regulars  ran  like  sheep  before  the  hounds,"  still 


74  COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN. 

held  the  fight  with  his  valiant  colony  men  until  he  and  nearly 
every  man  in  his  company  were  killed.  It  was  George  Wash- 
ington the  Virginia  colonel  ("that  heroic  youth/1  so  wrote 
Davies,  the  New  Jersey  minister,  "whom  I  cannot  but  hope 
Providence  has  preserved  in  so  signal  a  manner  for  some 
important  service  to  his  country")  who,  on  that  same  awful 
day,  when  the  king's  soldiers  fell  or  fled  before  the  Indian 
ambuscade,  saved  the  rout  from  being  an  utter  massacre;  though 
shot  at  until  two  horses  fell  under  him  and  his  coat  was  riddled 
with  bullets,  he  still  protected  the  retreat,  with  what  Braddock 
/had  contemptuously  termed  his  "  raw  American  militia."  It  was 
the  men  of  Monckton's  brigade  —  three  out  of  every  four  of 
them  being  "  provincials"  -who  stood  the  chief  shock  of  the 
conflict  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham  where  on  "  the  battle-field  of 
the  Celtic  and  Saxon  races  "  the  valor  of  their  stand  gave  victory 
to  England  in  that  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world  that 

o 

closed  the  long  struggle  for  supremacy  in  America  with  the 
death  of  the  heroic  but  victorious  Wolfe. 

Of  this  final  and  greatest  endeavor  of  the  colonial  fighting- 
men  the  story  has  become  a  twice-told  tale.  But  it  is  worth 
relating  here,  as  that  of  a  struggle  in  which  the  undervalued 

O  OO 

"  provincials  "  bravely  bore  their  part  and,  waking  to  a  sense  of 
their  real  strength,  made  the  Plains  of  Abraham  but  the  fore- 
runner of  the  yet  grander  plain  known  as  the  Common  of 
Lexington. 

The  mid-years  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  come.  For 
nearly  an  hundred  and  fifty  years  had  England  and  France 
been  crowding  one  another  in  the  western  world,  each  claiming 

*-*  O 

its  ownership,  each  determined  to  possess  it.  The  success  of 
England,  though  clearly  foreshadowed,  had  not  as  yet  been 
apparent.  Canada  might  be  doomed  but  France  defended  her- 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  7S 

self  right  valiantly.  Louisburg  had  fallen,  Acadia  had  been 
conquered,  but  to  the  northwest,  above  the  rock-bound  fortresses 
of  Quebec  and  Montreal,  the  Bourbon  banner  of  the  fleur-de-lis 
still  floated  in  triumph.  France  still  held  the  key  to  the  con- 
tinent and  in  the  great  valleys  of  the  west  the  blue  uniforms 
x)f  her  guardsmen  garrisoned  all  the  rapidly-growing  outposts. 

The  governors  of  New  France  were  energetic  and  aggressive. 
To  the  grim  and  martial  Frontenac  had  succeeded  the  politic 
De  Callieres,  the  warlike  Vaudreuil,  the  energetic  Beauhar- 
nais,  the  wily  Galissoniere  and  La  Jonquiere,  admiral  of  France. 
Following  him  came,  in  turn,  the  impetuous  Ouquesne  and  yet 
another  Vaudreuil  —  the  last  of  the  French  governors.  Equal 
in  valor,  though  ever  at  odds  with  their  official  superiors,  stood 
the  royal  commandants,  than  -whom  none  were  braver  in  fight 
than  the  last :  Dieskau,  who  fell  at  Lake  George,  and  Mont- 
calm,  the  noble  and  heroic  —  Montcalm,  whose  career  in  Canada 
has  been  pronounced  "a  wonderful  struggle  against  destiny." 

England  opposed  but  inferior  leaders  to  these  energetic 
sons  of  France.  Braddock,  the  obstinate,  fell  in  utter  and 
almost  ignominious  defeat;  Shirley  and  Johnston  had  neither 
the  pluck  nor  the  ability  to  follow  up  the  advantages  of  success. 
Loudon  was  a  pompous  do-nothing,  Abercrombie  a  slow  and 
heavy-witted  incapable,  Amherst  was  a  stolid  and  over-cautious 
martinet,  Webb  a  timid  and  dilatory  tactician.  Only  with 
Wolfe  —  young,  brilliant,  energetic  and  intrepid — did  anything 
like  real  success  come  to  the  arms  of  England. 

Sailing  from  conquered  Louisburg,  where  his  great  ability 
had  already  displayed  itself,  Wolfe,  in  June,  1759,  headed  toward 
Quebec.  The  slow  methods  of  England  had  enabled  France  to 
succor  her  principal  stronghold  in  Canada  and  when  Wolfe  landed 
on  the  Island  of  Orleans  Amherst's  twelve  thousand  men  still 


76 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN. 


lingered  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain.     "The  whole  mass 
& 

of  the  people  of  Canada,"  says  Bancroft,  "  had  been  called  to 
arms,"  and  Wolfe,  with  his  less  than  eight  thousand  men,  found 
himself  fronted  by  Montcalm  with  a  force  of  fourteen  thousand, 
not  counting  the  Indian  allies."  The  entire  summer  was  wasted 
in  ineffectual  attempts  on  either  side  to  obtain  the  advantage; 
Amheist  and  his  expected  reinforcements  did  not  appear  and 
at  last  on  the  third  of  September  Wolfe  decided  upon  a 
movement  as  adventurous  as  it  was  hazardous. 

Sick  in  body  but  intrepid  in  spirit  he  ordered  his  men  to 
scale  the  precipitous  heights  above  Quebec.  Here  was  the  one 
weak  point  of  the  enemy ;  here  must  the  assault  be  made. 
Once  determined  upon  this  was  quickly  done.  Aided  by  "sheer 
good  luck  quite  as  much  as  by  skill  and  courage  "  Wolfe  and 
his  little  force  —  exactly  four  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-six  in  number  —  in  the  gray  of  a  September  morning, 
silently  pulled  themselves  up  the  steep  incline  and  at  sunrise, 
says  Mr.  Clinton,  "  looked  down  from  the  Heights  of  Abraham 
.upon  the  city  which  for  nearly  three  months  they  had  wearily 
watched  across  the  water." 

Thus  outgeneraled  and  surprised  Montcalm  saw  that  instant 
action  was  his  only  salvation.  With  his  seventy-five  hundred 
fighting  men  he  marched  to  meet  the  enemy.  The  battle  was 
joined  at  once.  On  came  the  French  ;  but  not  until  they  were 
within  forty  yards  of  the  "  thin  red  line  "  of  England  was 
their  fire  returned.  Then  the  iron  hail  burst  from  the  Eng- 
lish ranks ;  another  volley  quickly  followed  and,  as  the  smoke 
cleared  away,  Wolfe  charged  the  wavering  French  line.  The 
blue  coats  broke  in  panic;  alike  English  and  French  comman- 
der fell  mortally  wounded  and  as  the  French  battalions  turned 
in  flight  the  fate  of  Canada  was  sealed.  One  of  the  decisive 


COLONIAL   FIGHTING-MEN.  77 

battles  of  the  world  was  fought  and  won  in  precisely  ten  min- 
utes by  the  watch. 

Montreal  fell  in  "the  following  summer.  Rogers  and  his 
American  rangers  captured  the  western  posts  and  with  the 
close  of  1760  the  last  hope  of  France  was  extinguished.  The 
lilies  of  the  French  king  fell  in  surrender;  the  red  cross  of  St. 
George  waved  over  conquered  fortresses  and  captured  posts, 
and  America  was  English  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf. 

The  thirteen  colonies  were  wild  with  joy.  They  were  saved. 
The  always-present  danger  of  French  conquest  was  over  forever 
and  its  final  overthrow  was  due  as  much  to  American  valor  as  to 
English  discipline.  Though  British  councillors  and  commanders 
might  sniff  and  sneer,  the  people  knew  in  how  great  measure 
they  had  helped  to  the  end.  "  Provincials,"  says  Bancroft, 
14  had  saved  the  remnants  of  Braddock's  army;  provincials  had 
conquered  Acadia;  provincials  had  defeated  Dieskau."  And 
provincials,  too,  had  captured  invulnerable  Louisburg,  had  de- 
stroyed Fort  Frontenac,  reduced  Niagara  and  planted  the 
English  flag  in  victory  on  the  ruined  bastions  of  Duquesne. 

Such  a  schooling  in  warfare  as  that  was  not  to  go  unheeded. 
Alike  ranger  and  forester,  militiaman  and  volunteer  gained  the 
inspiration  of  victory  from  this,  the  last  stand  against  France. 
The  day  for  yet  greater  deeds  was  close  at  hand  and  the  colonial 
fighting-man  was  to  become  the  defender  and  the  deliverer  of  his 
home-land.  English  contempt  was  to  develop  into  English 
tyranny  and  at  the  call  of  their  leaders  the  despised  provincials 
of  the  past  were  to  become  the  patriots  of  the  future.  From 
the  ranks  of  the  village  train-bands  and  the  colonial  militiamen 
was  to  step  ready  and  armed  for  resistance  the  determined  and 
now  immortal  Minute-man.  The  real  American  soldier  was 
ready  at  last. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


MINUTE-MEN    AND    CONTINENTALS. 

R.  BRATTLE  presents 
his  Duty  to  his  Excel- 
lency Gov.  Gage,  he 
apprehends  it  his  Duty 
to  acquaint  his  Excel- 
lency from  Time  to 
Time  with  every  Thing 
he  hears  and  knows  to 
be  true  and  is  of  Im- 
portance in  these  trou- 
blesome Times,  which 
is  the  Apology  Mr. 
Brattle  makes  for  troubling  the  General  with  this  Letter. 

o 

Capt.  Minot  of  Concord,  a  very  worthy  Man,  this  Minute 
informed  Mr.  Brattle  that  there  had  been  repeatedly  made 
pressing  Applications  to  him  to  warn  his  Company  to  meet  at 
One  Minutes  Warning,  cquipt  with  Arms  and  Ammunition, 
according  to  Law  ;  he  had  constantly  denied  them,  adding,  if 
he  did  not  gratify  them  he  should  be  constrained  to  quit  his 
Farms  and  Town  ;  Mr.  Brattle  told  him  he  had  better  do 
that  than  lose  his  Life  and  be  hanged  for  a  Rebel." 

Thus,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of   August,  1774,  ran  the  opening 

78 


MIXUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  79 

of  a  letter  addressed  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  British 
troops  in  Boston  by  William  Brattle,  the  brigadier  in  command 
of  the  provincial  militia.  For  Boston  was  garrisoned  by  the 
troops  of  King  George.  The  temper  of  her  people  was  hot 
and  aggressive  toward  England  and  the  authorities  across  the 
water  had  determined  to  nip  rebellion  in  the  bud. 

It  was  a  note  of  warning,  but  it  came  too  late.  Military 
rule  in  America  meant  an  increase  of  oppression  ;  and  to  further 
oppression  men  were  unalterably  opposed.  Resistance  was  duty. 
To  this  duty  the  colonists  were  urged  and  those  especially 
who  enrolled  in  the  militia  were  implored  to  hold  themselves 
ready  for  any  emergency.  And  at  last  the  emergency  came. 

For  years  the  relations  between  king  and  colonists  had 
been  growing  more  r.nd  more  strained.  Freedom  from  abso- 
lute influence  of  the  kingly  authority  had  for  more  than  a  gen- 
eration been  creating  in  men  a  desire  for  greater  personal 
freedom.  There  is  a  mighty  impetus  toward  emancipation  in 
the  un-bridged  distance  of  three  thousand  miles  of  sea. 

So  at  last  out  of  dispute  came  action.  Tyranny  on  the  one 
side  and  unyielding  opposition  on  the  other  ended  as  it  only 
could  end  —  in  blows,  and  when  the  clash  came  the  "  minute's 
warning"  had  its  full  effect.  The  Minute-men  were  ready  and 
alert. 

The  first  shock  of  arms  came  in  the  Massachusetts  colony. 
When  the  British  government  sent  orders  to  General  Gage, 
the  commander  in  Boston,  that  he  should  bid  his  troops  fire 
upon  the  people  when  he  should  deem  it  necessary,  the  match 
was  put  to  the  tinder.  The  people's  protest  showed  itself  in 
the  storing  of  munitions  of  war  for  their  own  defense  and  in 
the  drill  and  continual  readiness  of  the  Minute-men.  In  1775 
came  the  climax. 


8o  MINUTE-MEN  AND    CONTINENTALS. 

"  On  the  nineteenth  day  of  April,  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five,  a  day  to  be  remembered  by  all  Ameri- 
cans of  the  present  generation,  and  which  ought  and  doubtless 
will  be  handed  down  to  ages  yet  unborn,  the  troops  of  Britain, 
unprovoked,  shed  the  blood  of  sundry  of  the  loyal  American 
subjects  of  the  British  king-  in  the  field  of  Lexington."  So  ran 
what  Dr.  Hale  calls  "  the  prophetic  introduction  "  of  the  report 
of  the  Battle  of  Lexington  which  the  provincial  congress  of 
Massachusetts  forwarded  in  haste  to  England. 

Of  that  notable  nineteenth  of  April  how  often  has  the 
story  been  told.  And  yet,  who  tires  of  reading  it  ?  From  the 
instant  when  Paul  Revere  caught  the  flash  of  the  signal  lan- 
tern from  the  pigeon-haunted  belfry  of  the  North  Church  in 
Boston  town  and  rode  his  ride  of  warning  the  story  grows  in 
interest. 


"  And  lo  !  as  he  looks,  on  the  belfry's  height 

A  glimmer  and  then  a  gleam  of  light  ! 

He  springs  to  the  saddle,  the  bridle  he  turns, 

But  lingers  and  gazes,  till  full  on  his  sight 

A  second  lamp  in  the  belfry  burns  ! 

A  hurry  of  hoofs  in  a  village  street, 

A  shape  in  the  moonlight,  a  bulk  in  the  dark, 

And  beneath,  from  the  pebbles,  in  passing,  a  spark 

Struck  out  by  a  steed  flying  fearless  and  fleet : 

That  was  all  !     And  yet,  through  the  gloom  and  the  light, 

The  fate  of  a  nation  was  riding  that  night; 

And  the  spark  struck  out  by  the  steed  in  his  flight, 

Kindled  the  land  into  flame  with  its  heat." 

The  land  was  ready  to  be  kindled.     The  anxious  waiting 
of  Paul  Revere  as,  all 


"  impatient  to  mount  and  ride 
Booted  and  spurred,  with  a  heavv  stride," 


MINUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  81 

he  paced  the  grassy  shore  of  the  "sluggish  Charles"  was  but 
typical  of  the  unsettled  feeling  that  pervaded  all  the  colonies. 
Not  alone  in  Massachusetts  were  bold  men  urging  action. 
North  and  south  the  mysterious  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  were  form- 
ing. In  more  than  one  section  were  to  be  found  those  who 
expressed  not  only  their  willingness  but  their  desire  to  fight. 

From  that  historic  seventh  of  October,  1765,  when  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  a  congress  of  the  thirteen  colonies  voiced 
the  protest  of  the  people  against  the  tyranny  of  England  down 
to  the  climax-year  that  precipitated  revolution,  the  people  were 
everywhere  preparing.  The  spirit  of  resistance  broke  out 
again  and  again.  The  angry  crowd  that  danced  about  the 
effigy  of  Oliver  the  stamp-master,  as  it  dangled  from  a  Boston 
elm,  the  five  hundred  hard  riders  who  stopped  the  way  of 
Ingersoll  the  Connecticut  collector  and  forced  him  to  resign 
his  office,  fling  aloft  his  hat  and  hurrah  three  times  for  "  Liberty 
and  Property,"  the  New  York  mob  that  broke  open  the  stables 
of  the  royal  governor,  dragged  out  his  coach,  mounted  his  Ex- 
cellency's effigy  upon  it  and  then  burned  the  whole  equipage 
on  the  Bowling  Green,  the  four  hundred  Marylanders  who 
assembled  at  Frederick  town  armed  with  "  guns  and  toma- 
hawks "  and  threatened  to  break  up  the  provincial  government, 
the  indignant  people  of  North  Carolina  who  threatened  the 
British  war-sloop  that  bore  the  stamped  paper,  seized  its  boat, 
which  they  dragged  on  a  cart  to  Wilmington  and  there  sur- 
rounding the  governor's  house  threatened  to  burn  both  house 
and  governor  if  he  did  not  accede  to  their  demands,  the  mut- 
terings  of  opposition  in  Pennsylvania,  in  South  Carolina  and 
in  Georgia  that  rose  and  fell  with  popular  opinion  and  were 
displayed  in  the  customary  mobs  and  effigy  burnings  —  all  these 
were  but  the  precursors  of  that  determined  opposition  to 


82 


MINUTE-MEN  AND    CONTINENTALS. 


tyranny  that,  after  ten  years  of  smouldering,  was  fanned  into  a 
flame  by  the  famous  stand  of  the  Minute-men  on  Lexington 
Common  and  about  the  old  North  Bridge  at  Concord -- the 
historic  span  of  America's  Rubicon,  the  sacred  spot 

"  Where  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

It  was  that  day's  fight  that  showed  the  courage  and  tested  the 
spirit  of  America's  citizen  soldiery. 

Little  need  to  tell  here  the  story  of  Lexington.  Every  school- 
boy is  familiar  with  its  details  and  not  a  few  schoolboys  of  that 

distant  day  seemed  to 
have  been  filled  with 
prophetic  inspirations. 
It  is  related  that  as  Lord 
Percy's  troops  marched 
out  of  Boston  heading 
for  the  highway  that  led 
toward  distant  Concord 
they  played  with  much 
spirit  the  shrill  but  sar- 
castic strains  of  Yankee 
Doodle.  "  Ho,  ho  !  " 
jeeringly  called  out  a  smart  Roxbury  boy  perched  on  a  con- 
venient stone  wall,  "you  fellows  go  out  by  'Yankee  Doodle;' 
you'll  come  back  fast  enough  by  '  Chevy  Chase.'  ' 

And  a  "  Chevy  Chase  "  it  was  indeed.  The  Percy  of  that 
famous  day  essayed  the  role  of  his  ancestor  of  three  centuries 
back  only  to  repeat  on  Massachusetts  highways  the  story  of 
that  "  woful  hunting"  in  Scottish  woods.  The  old  ballad  tells 
us  how 


THEY  HUNG  ON  THK  SKIRTS  OK  THE  RETREAT. 


MINUTE-A\fEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  83 

"  To  drive  the  deer  with  hound  and  horn 

Earl  Percy  took  his  way ; 
The  child  may  rue  that  is  unborn 

The  hunting  of  that  day." 

The  "  embattled  farmers  "  of  the  fair  New  England  fields  like 
the  supporters  of  another  Douglas  rallied  to  protect  their  home- 
lands and  by  their  acts  said  as  did  he 

"  Show  me,"  said  he,  "  whose  men  you  be 

That  hunt  so  boldly  here, 
That,  without  my  consent,  do  chase 

And  kill  my  fallow-deer?" 

The  Minute-men  won  the  day.  Baffled  and  dispirited  the 
British  marauders  straggled  back  to  Boston.  Like  bull-dogs 
the  now  aroused  farmers  snapped  and  growled  at  their  heels ; 
they  hung  on  the  skirts  of  the  retreat ;  with  flint-lock  and 
king's-arm  they  emphasized  their  protests  and  only  desisted 
when  the  British  troops  were  safe  again  beneath  the  protecting 
batteries  of  Boston  town. 

Here  was  war  at  last.  The  tidings  of  that  long  day's  fight 
fired  the  colonies  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  North,  west  and 
south  the  stirring  tidings  sped.  It  was  on  Wednesday  the 
nineteenth  of  April,  1775,  that  Lord  Percy's  routed  columns 
ran  their  twenty-mile  race  with  death.  On  Sunday  morning 
following,  a  swift  courier  clattered  down  the  Broad  Way  bring- 
ing the  story  of  the  fight  to  New  York.  Elizabeth,  New  Bruns- 
wick, Princeton,  Philadelphia,  quickly  heard  the  news.  On  the 
twenty-seventh  it  was  in  Baltimore  and  in  the  early  days  of 
May  the  southern  colonies  knew  of  the  bravery  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts farmers  and  cheered  the  tidings  lustily.  The  Minute- 
men  of  the  old  Bay  colony  had  precipitated  revolution. 


84  MINUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS. 

On  that  very  tenth  of  May  when  the  men  of  Georgetown  in 
South  Carolina  flung  aloft  their  caps  at  the  news  of  Lexington 
fio-ht,  away  to  the  North,  amid  the  rolling  hills  that  make  so 

t5  J 

picturesque  the  verdant  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  another 
body  of  New  England  .Minute-men,  gathered  from  among  the 
New  Hampshire  Grants  and  known  as  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys,  made  a  dash  upon  the  enemy  that  has  become  famous  in 
history. 

Led  on  by  Ethan  Allen,  a  mountain  partisan,  and  Benedict 
Arnold,  a  Connecticut  horse-jockey,  less  than  an  hundred  Green 
Mountain  Boys  surprised  the  British  post  of  Ticonderoga  in 
the  early  dawn  of  that  May  morning.  Thus  unceremoniously 
routed  from  his  bed,  the  sleepy  commandant  had  the  distinction 
of  making  the  first  actual  surrender  of  the  king's  property  to 
the  revolting  colonists,  yielding  with  as  good  grace  as  possible 
to  the  rather  pompous  summons  of  the  blustering  Allen  who 
summoned  him  to  surrender  the  fort  u  in  the  name  of  the  Great 
Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress  !  " 

O 

"The  careful  annalists,"  says  Dr.  Hale,  "  observe  that  the 
Continental  Congress  did  not  meet  until  after  the  surrender  of 
Ticonderoga."  But  little  did  Allen  care.  He  had  a  point  to 
make  and  he  made  it.  No  one  comprehended  better  than  did 
this  bold  borderer  the  force  of  the  questionable  old  adage:  "All 
is  fair  in  love  and  war." 

Lexington  and  Ticonderoga  were  but  the  awakening. 
Minute-man  and  militiaman,  responding  to  the  call  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  hurried  to  the  investment  of  Boston. 
They  had  whipped  the  British  in  the  open  field;  now  they 
would  push  them  into  the  ocean. 

Mr.  Frothingham  has  a  story  to  the  effect  that  when  on  one 
of  those  last  days  of  May,  1775,  the  British  generals,  Howe, 


MINUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  85 

Clinton  and  Burgoyne,  were  sailing  into  Boston  harbor  with 
reinforcements  for  the  army  of  the  king,  they  spoke  a  packet, 
outward-bound.  Burgoyne  hailed  the  skipper:  "What  news 
above  ? "  he  cried.  Back  came  the  answer  that  Boston  town 
was  surrounded  by  ten  thousand  countrymen.  "  How  many 


C.RF.FN  MOUNTAIN  BOYS  ON  THE  MARCH. 


regulars  in  Boston  ?  "  asked  the  Englishman.  "  About  five 
thousand."  "What!"  shouted  Burgoyne,  "can  ten  thousand 
Yankee  Doodles  shut  up  five  thousand  soldiers  of  the  king? 
Well ;  well !  Only  let  us  get  in  there  and  we'll  soon  find 
elbow-room." 


86  MINUTE-MEN  AND    CONTINENTALS. 

But  that  elbow-room  never  came.  Closer  and  tighter  about 
the  beleaguered  town  drew  the  cordon  of  besieging  yeomanry. 
In  all  the  country  'round  farmers  and  village  folk  grasped 
musket  and  pikes  ready  for  action,  and  hurried  to  the  places  of 
rendezvous  —  and  on  the  seventeenth  of  June  the  Provincial 
Congress,  assembled  at  Watertown,  issued  an  order  that  ran  as 
follows  : 

"WHEREAS  the  hostile  Incursions  this  Country  is  exposed  to,  and  the  frequent  Alarms 
we  may  expect  from  the  Military  Operations  of  our  Enemies,  make  it  necessary  that  the  good 
People  of  this  Colony  be  on  their  Guard  and  prepared  at  all  Times  to  resist  their  Attacks,  and 
to  aid  and  assist  their  Brethren  :  Therefore,  Resolved,  That  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended 
to  the  Militia  in  all  Parts  of  this  Colony,  to  hold  themselves  m  Readiness  to  march  at  A 
MINUTE'S  WARNING,  to  the  Relief  of  any  Place  thai  may  be  attacked,  or  to  the  Support 
of  our  Army,  with  at  least  twenty  Cartridges  or  rounds  of  Powder  and  Ball.  And.  to  prevent  all 
Confusion  or  Delays,  It  is  further  recommended  to  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Colony,  living  on 
the  Seacoasts,  or  within  twenty  Miles  of  them,  that  they  carry  their  Arms  and  Ammunition 
with  them  to  Meeting,  on  the  Sabbath  and  other  Days,  \\hen  they  meet  for  public  Worship." 

Summons  and  caution  came  none  too  soon.  On  that  very 
seventeenth  of  June  the  environed  British  made  one  bold  push 
for  release.  Their  jailers  were  prepared  for  them.  The  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought. 

O 

It  proved  the  sturdiness  as  it  tested  the  courage  of  the 
American  Minute-man.  A  moral  victory  although  an  actual 
defeat,  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  showed  alike  to  English  sol- 
dier and  to  Colonial  tory  that  Boston-town  was  not  to  be  held 
in  safety  for  the  king. 

On  the  same  historic  seventeenth  of  June  the  Continental 
Congress,  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  appointed  as  "general- 
issimo" of  the  soldiers  of  revolt,  Colonel  George  Washington  of 

o  o 

Virginia.  Fighting  men  from  all  the  New  England  colonies, 
volunteers  from  the  middle  provinces,  riflemen  from  Maryland 
and  Virginia  and  the  further  south,  led  by  their  own  officers 


THK   MINUTE-MEN. 


M1XUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  89 

and  making  in  all  a  loosely-organized  force  of  more  than 
sixteen  thousand  men,  encamped  upon  the  hills  and  plains  to 
the  west  of  Boston. 

Under  a  spreading  elm  on  the  commons  of  Cambridge  — 
a  tree  that  yet  stands,  strong  and  sturdy,  the  best  memorial  of 
that  time  of  blossoming  revolution  —  minute-men  and  rifle- 
men, militiamen  and  volunteers  were  mustered  on  the  third  of 
July,  1775;  and  there  "His  Excellency  George  Washington, 
Esquire,  Captain-General  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Forces  of  the  Thirteen  United  Colonies  "  assumed  command 
of  the  soldiers  of  freedom.  Revolution  was  organized.  The 
Minute-men  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  became  from  that 
day  forward  the  Continental  Army. 

But,  before  we  turn  from  this  opening  chapter  in  the  real 
story  of  the  American  soldier,  let  us  glance  at  those  historic 
figures  that,  by  their  deeds,  so  royally  illustrate  its  pages. 
These  Minute-men,  this  raw  militia,  that  faced  and  fought  the 
well-trained  red-coats  of  England  —  who  were  they  ?  What 
were  they  like  ? 

Soldiers  we  can  scarcely  call  them,  for  the  soldier  presup- 
poses discipline,  drilling  and  training.  Some  crude  instruction 
of  this  sort  they  may  have  had.  Some  of  the  men,  indeed, 
were  veterans  of  the  colonial  conflicts  that  had  preceded  the 
Revolution,  but  as  a  rule  these  first  fighters  for  liberty  were 
busy  toilers  all,  farm-born  or  village  bred.  Hastily  summoned 
and  still  more  hastily  accoutered  they  left  the  plough  in  the 
furrow,  the  tool  on  the  bench,  the  quill  in  the  ink  and,  all 
unused  to  war,  sprang  to  arms.  In  motley  uniforms,  in  half- 
uniforms,  in  no  uniform  at  all,  with  here  a  military  coat,  there 
a  three-cornered  hat  or  perhaps  only  a  home-made  cockade 
pinned  to  the  homespun  lapels,  with  the  rusty  flint-lock 


9o  MINUTE-MEN  AND    CONTINENTALS. 

cauo-ht  down  from  above  the  broad  chimney-piece  where  it  had 
& 

huno-  for  years  as  heirloom  or  trophy,  a  motley  array,  lacking  in 

£5  ^ 

discipline,  over-generous  of  advice  to  their  superiors  —  neighbors, 
comrades  and  brothers  all,  they  had  swarmed  to  the  ragged 
fences  that  flanked  the  king's  highway  between  Concord  and 
Boston  ;  they  had  camped  in  most  unmilitary  style  on  hillside 
or  in  field,  fallen  behind  the  hastily-tossed  earthworks  on 
Bunker  Hill  or  died  beneath  the  blossoming  apple-trees  beside 
the  flowing  Mystic. 

And  the  officers  about  whom  these  earlier  fighters  rallied 
were  a  scarcely  less  motley  group  than  were  the  men  who  but 
haltingly  acknowledged  their  authority.  Here  in  the  first 
fights  for  freedom,  within  the  straggling  camps  or  meeting  in 
that  first  council  of  war  at  the:  foot  of  pleasant  Prospect  Hill 
came  the  waverer,  the  blusterer,  the  man  of  moderate  experi- 
ence, the  would-be  martinet,  the  newly-elected  captain,  ignorant 
of  tactics  and  uncertain  as  to  the  proper  use  of  his  sword  — 
food  for  merriment  and  contempt  among  the  trained  warriors 
of  the  English  king,  but  patriotic  none  the  less,  formidable 
because  sheathed  in  the  justice  of  their  cause. 

"Thrice  is  lie  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just  ; 
And  lie  but  naked,  though  locked  up  in  steel, 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted  "- 

Surely  never  did  those  noble  words  which  the  great  poet  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  an  English  king  find  fitter  application  than 
toward  these  patriot  leaders  in  the  new  England  across  the 
seas,  where  once  again  the  old  issue  between  tyranny  and 
personal  freedom  was  to  be  fought  to  the  end. 

Here,  to  the  leadership  at  the  camp  on  Prospect  Hill,  came 
Heath  the  only  colonel  or,  at  least,  the  first  of  the  colonels; 


MINUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  91 

here,  too,  came  Artemas  Ward,  "  commander-in-chief "  by 
sufferance;  Prescott  of  Pepperell,  the  valiant  veteran  of  the 
Canadian  campaign;  Putnam,  the  modern  Cincinnatus,  who 
literally  turned  from  the  plough  to  the  battle-field;  Warren  the 
Roxbury  doctor  and  busy  committee-man,  who  fought  as  a 
volunteer  and  fell  in  the  rush  from  the  captured  earthworks, 
the  noblest  victim  of  the  stand  on  Bunker  Hill;  Knowlton 
the  brave  Connecticut  leader  ;Gridley  the  cannonier  who  had 
trained  the  guns  on  Louisburg;  Stark  the  doughty  Indian 
fighter  from  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  and  Reed  the  equally 
intrepid  son  of  those  granite  hills;  Brooks,  the  Medford  major; 
Thomas  the  Kingston  doctor;  Spencer  of  Connecticut;  Greene 
of  Rhode  Island  —  men  whose  names  are  indissolubly  linked 
to  those  opening  days  of  revolution  and  whose  memories 
should  linger  with  their  countrymen  as  of  those  who  by 
their  courage,  their  endurance  and  their  sturdy  patriotism  fired 
and  cemented  the  stock  from  which  was  to  spring  the  real 
American  soldier. 

"Will  he  fight?"  asked  General  Gage,  as,  in  the  battery  on 
Copp's  Hill  the  tory  lawyer  whoXfood  by  the  General's  side 
pointed  out  the  stalwart  figure^rf"  his  rebel  brother-in-law, 
rallying  the  farmers  behind  the  rudely-lined  breastworks  on 
Bunker  Hill. 

u  Fight ! "  was  the  reply,  "yes,  yes  ;    you  may  depend  on  him 
to  do  that  to  the  very  last  drop  of  blood  in  his  veins." 

A  notable  figure  in  those  stirring  days  was  this  same  rebel 
brother-in-law  Colonel  William  Prescott.  A  type  of  the  Ameri- 
can fighters  for  freedom,  his  statue  to-day  fitly  crowns  the 
height  which  he  so  valiantly  defended  and  seems  to  guard  the 
tall  gray  shaft  that  commemorates  for  us  that  eventful  seven- 
teenth of  June.  Fifty  years  of  age,  a  splendid  figure,  handsome 


92  MINUTE-MEN  AND    CONTINENTALS. 

of  face,  full  of  energy  and  of  inspiring  words,  he  wore  that  hot 
June  day  in  the  trenches  a  simple  uniform  —  the  blue  coat, 
lapped  and  faced  and  adorned  with  a  single  row  of  buttons ; 
the  knee  breeches  and  silver-buckled  shoes,  and  the  inevitable 
three-cornered  hat,  while  his  directing  hand  grasped  the  un- 
sheathed sword  whose  temper  had  already  been  proven  in 
battle  for  that  English  king  who  was  now  no  longer  his  master. 

Of  a  like  type  and  of  equal  valor  were  the  men  who  com- 
manded and  the  men  who  followed,  the  men  who  fought  and 
those  who  fell  in  the  opening  battles  of  the  war. 

It  was  these  fighters  from  the  New  England  farms  and  their 

o  o 

brethren  from  the  plantations  of  the  further  South  —  frank, 
fearless,  illy-disciplined,  determined  and  alert,  who  gathered  on 
the  commons  of  Cambridge  and,  merging  themselves  into  the 

<_>  o      o 

Continental  Army,  accepted  George  Washington  of  Virginia 
as  their  commander  and  generalissimo. 

Such  then,  when  he  took  command  at  Cambridge,  were  the 
troops  of  Washington.  "  A  hardy  militia,  brave  and  patriotic, 
but  illy-armed,  undisciplined,  unorganized  and  wanting  in  almost 
everything  necessary  for  successful  war." 

What  could  he  make  of  them  ? 

Full  justice  can  never  be  done  to  the  ability  of  the  first 
American  General.  Hampered  and  harassed  by  the  uncer- 
tainty of  his  forces,  by  the  lack  of  proper  munitions  of  war,  by 
the  half-hearted  measures  of  a  hesitating  Congress  and  even 

O  O 

by  the  wavering  desires  of  the  people  whose  interests  he  was 
to  defend,  he  was  yet  able,  with  all  the  hazards  against  him, 

*  o 

to  drive  a  disciplined  British  Army  from  Boston  and  to  hold 
against  gathering  odds  the  important  city  of  New  York.  De- 
feated at  Brooklyn  by  a  force  of  British  regulars  outnumbering 
him  three  to  one,  he  saved  his  armv  bv  one  of  the  most  mas- 


MINUTE-MEN  AND   CONTINENTALS.  95 

terly  retreats  known  to  history.  With  forces  continually 
decimated  by  desertions  and  by  the  unceremonious  leave-taking 
of  militiamen  whose  short  terms  of  service  were  constantly  ex- 
piring, he  yet  so  maneuvered,  marched  and  handled  his  dis- 
heartened forces  as  to  strike,  at  just  the  critical  moment,  at  the 
very  center  of  Britain's  chief  dependence  —  the  hireling  Hes- 
sians at  Trenton.  And  thus  he  grasped  out  of  almost  certain 
defeat  the  victory  that  strengthened  the  patriotic  cause  and  re- 
sulted finally  in  the  one  measure  that  he  knew  was  necessary 
for  success — the  organization  and  establishment  of  a  regular 
army. 

America's  merriest  Christmas  was,  really,  the  one  that 
promised  to  be  its  sorriest  -  -  that  eventful  twenty-fifth  of 
December,  1776,  when  Washington's  meagre  force  pushed 
through  the  floating  ice  of  the  Delaware  and  captured  the 
unsuspecting  Hessians.  "  The  life  of  a  nation,"  says  Mr. 
Lodge,  "  was  at  stake."  Washington's  brief  campaign  at 
Trenton  and  at  Princeton  has  rightly  been  characterized  as 
quite  as  brilliant  and  as  full  of  skill  and  daring  as  is  anything 
in  the  annals  of  modern  warfare.  Mr.  Lodge  asserts  that,  if 
Washington  had  never  fought  another  battle,  this  decisive 
action  on  the  Delaware  would  entitle  him  to  the  place  of  a 
great  commander. 

That  it  was  decisive  no  one  who  reads  history  carefully  can 
question.  It  reassured  a  doubting  nation,  organized  strength 
out  of  weakness,  brought  triumph  from  disaster  and,  as  one  of 
its  immediate  results,  merged  all  the  shifting  forces  of  the 
unreliable  Continentals  into  the  definite  and  finally  victorious 
army  of  the  Soldiers  of  Liberty. 

That  brief  period  from  the  muster  beneath  the  elms  of  Cam- 
bridge Common  in  the  warm  July  weather  of  1775  to  the  cold 


96 


MINUTE-MEN  AND    CONTINENTALS. 


Christmas  night  on  the  Delaware  in  the  dying  days  of  1776  is 
crowded  with  incident.  It  saw  the  disastrous  invasion  of  Can- 
ada that  ended  in  defeat  at  Montreal  and  Quebec ;  the  death  of 
the  gallant  Montgomery,  one  of  America's  most  promising  gen- 
erals, and  the  daring  of  Arnold  whose  later  treason,  even,  should 
not  be  permitted  to  eclipse  his  brilliant  record  amid  Canadian 
snows.  It  saw  the  patriot  victories  in  North  Carolina;  the 

gallant  defense  of 
Charleston  by  the 
heroic  Moultrie ; 
the  stubborn  but 
hopeless  effort  to 
hold  New  York, 
the  remarkable  bat- 
tle of  Brooklyn,  the 
spirited  engage- 
ments at  Harlem 
Heights  and  White 
Plains.  It  brought 

O 

to    the    front    men 
whose   names  were 
TIIK  cAMiikiucE  ELM.  to  become   famous 

as  intrepid  and  gal- 
lant fighters;  and,  through  the  inefficiency  of  British  generals 
and  the  tireless  labors  of  Washington  drew  to  what  was  in 
fact,  if  we  regard  the  numbers  engaged,  but  a  trifling  military 
campaign  the  attention  and  the  plaudits  of  a  watching  world. 

A  large,  a  veteran  and  a  disciplined  army,  led  by  generals 
whom  England  esteemed  her  best,  was  out-maneuvered  by  a 
demoralized  assemblage  of  untried  and  unreliable  militiamen, 
"  not  much  superior,"  says  General  Cullom,  "  to  an  armed  mob  ; 


MINUTE-MI-.  \  A.\n    CONTINENTALS.  97 

but  the  one  was  held  together  by  a  machine-like  discipline  and 
backed  by  an  obstinate  tyranny,  the  other,  unsatisfactory 
though  it  might  be,  was  still  inspired  by  a  determined  patriot- 
ism. When  disaster  seemed  most  certain  triumph  came  forth, 
and  out  of  the  most  unpromising  surroundings  there  emerged, 
to  carry  the  war  to  its  close,  the  dauntless  Soldiers  of  Liberty. 
Henceforward  minute-man,  militiaman  and  continental  are  to 
stand  through  all  that  struggle  for  freedom  as  the  veteran 
American  Soldier. 


CHAPTER   V. 


SOLDIERS     OF     LIBERTY. 

IR,  the  Hessians  have  surrendered!" 
Thus,  in  joyful  tones,  came  Baylor's 
report  as,  in  a  lull  in  that  sharp 
morning's  fight  at  Trenton,  he  gal- 
loped up  to  the  anxious  Commander- 
in-Chief. 

"  Thank  God ! "  was  Washington's 
devout  rejoinder.  And  that  fervent 
exclamation  of  gratitude,  the  sim- 
plest and  yet  the  strongest  that 
man  can  utter,  was  freighted  with 
a  still  deeper  meaning  than  even 
Washington  himself  could  imagine. 
For  that  triumphant  report  of  the 
hard-riding  Baylor  bore  in  its  one 

O  J 

brief  sentence  the  success  of    the   Revolution. 

It  is  always  darkest  just  before  the  dawn.  When  Glover's 
fishermen-soldiers  from  Marblehead,  on  that  cold  December 
night  of  1776,  pushed  out  into  the  floating  ice  the  clumsy  boats 
that  were  to  carry  Washington's  troops  across  the  Delaware  the 
expedition  seemed  to  be  but  a  forlorn  hope. 

The  little  force  of   twenty-five  hundred  men,  whose  ill-shod 

98 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  99 

feet  had  literally  marked  their  march  across  the  snow  with 
blood,  constituted  almost  the  entire  fighting  force  at  Washing- 

o  o  o 

ton's  disposal.  His  army  had,  as  yet,  no  compelling  law  to  hold 
its  numbers  intact  or  keep  its  volunteers  reliable.  Here  to-day 
and  gone  to-morrow  seemed  to  be  the  rule  with  the  home-raised 
militia  who  had  ranged  themselves  under  his  banner. 

Something  must  be  done.  The  more  than  thirty  thousand 
men  who  made  up  the  British  Army  about  New  York  so  far 
outnumbered  the  Continental  fighting-force  that  could  be  counted 
on  for  actual  service  that  ruin  to  the  patriot  cause  seemed  almost 
inevitable.  But  despair  formed  no  part  of  Washington's  in- 
domitable nature.  Success  must  be  won.  In  the  most  somber 
of  those  dark  days  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  "  I  cannot  entertain 
the  idea  that  our  cause  will  finally  sink  though  it  may  remain 
for  some  time  under  a  cloud." 

And  it  was  from  under  this  cloud  that  he  determined  to 
bring  the  cause  that  was  dearer  to  him  than  life.  When,  erect 
but  anxious,  he  directed  from  his  open  flat-boat  the  crossing  of 
his  little  army  from  one  icy  bank  to  the  other  he  literally,  as  Mr. 
Lodge  asserts,  "  carried  the  American  Revolution  in  his  hands." 
This  one  stroke  of  Washington's  generalship  saved  the  cause 
of  the  colonies.  For,  apart  from  the  moral  effect  of  the  victory, 
it  aroused  a  hesitating  Congress  to  agree  to  Washington's 
demand  for  a  standing  army. 

The  enthusiasm  that  blazes  into  conflict  and  breaks  into 
open  rebellion  against  tyranny  not  unfrequently  fails  to  stand 
the  test  of  prolonged  endeavor  when  the  first  frenzy  of  indig- 
nation is  past. 

To  a  certain  extent  this  was  true  of  the  American  revolu- 
tionists. The  valor  that  lined  the  fences  and  thronged  the 
fields  between  Concord  and  Boston,  that  led  the  assault  on 


IOO 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY. 


Ticonderoga  and  held  the  breastworks  on  Bunker  Hill  grew 
lukewarm  with  long  days  of  inaction  in  camp.  Crops  were 

o-rowino-  in  the  home  farm-lands ;  work  which  seemed  quite  as 
&  <^> 

important  as  forcing  the  English  king  to  yield  to  colonial  demands 
had  been  left  to  over-burdened  housewives  or  to  unskilled 
helpers.  When  their  brief  term  of  enlistments  came  to  an 
end  the  volunteers  were  quite  ready  to  hurry  back  to  their  crops, 
their  stock  or  their  neglected  duties  at  home. 

So,  again  and  again,  the  militia  of  the  land,  who  acknowl- 
edged no  central  authority  and  were  held  only  by  their  pledges 
to  a  short  term  of  actual  service  would  dwindle  to  a  mere 
handful  or  be  succeeded  by  raw  levies  who  must  be  schooled 
to  the  demands  and  discipline  of  warfare. 

In  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the  congress,  written  after 
the  defeat  on  Long  Island  and  that  masterly  retreat  from 
Brooklyn,  Washington  said :  "  The  jealousy  of  a  standing  army 
and  the  evils  to  be  apprehended  from  one  are  remote  and  in 
my  judgment,  situated  and  circumstanced  as  we  are,  not  at  all 
to  be  dreaded  ;  but  the  consequence  of  wanting  one  according 
to  my  ideas  formed  from  the  present  view  of  things,  is  certain 
and  inevitable  ruin.  For,  if  I  was  called  upon  to  declare  upon 
oath  whether  the  militia  have  been  most  serviceable  or  hurtful, 
upon  the  whole,  I  should  subscribe  to  the  latter." 

He  had  his  wish  at  last.  On  the  twenty-seventh  of  Decem- 
ber, 1776,  the  very  day  after  the  brilliant  dash  upon  the  Hes- 
sians at  Trenton,  Congress  "  having  maturely  considered  the 
present  crisis  and  having  perfect  reliance  on  the  wisdom,  vigor 
and  uprightness  of  General  \Yashington,"  granted  him  the 
power  as  General  of  the  United  States  to  raise,  organize  and 
officer  sixteen  battalions  of  infantry,  three  thousand  light- 
horsemen,  three  regiments  of  artillery  and  a  corps  of  engineers. 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  101 

This  was  to  be  considered  as  in  addition  to  the  eighty-eight 
battalions  furnished  by  the  separate  States. 

Here  was  high-sounding  promise  indeed,  but  it  was  never 
fully  realized.  It  accomplished  one  excellent  result,  however, 
for  it  paved  the  way  for  the  attainment  of  Washington's 
desires.  For,  though  the  numbers  obtained  were  far  too  few 
for  the  always  pressing  needs  of  the  revolted  colonies  and 
though  the  promises  of  the  States  were  but  meagerly  fulfilled, 
a  plan  of  enlistments  for  the  term  of  at  least  three  years  kept 
up  a  standing  force  throughout  the  rest  of  the  revolution.  This 
supplied  a  basis  on  which  Washington  as  commander-in-chief 
could  frame  his  campaigns;  while  the  militia,  called  out  for 
extra  service  when  occasion  demanded,  enabled  the  Congress 
to  keep  a  fair  showing  of  a  fighting-force  always  in  the  field. 

And  yet,  correct  as  was  Washington's  judgment  and  uncer- 
tain as  was  this  fluctuating  militia,  how  often  upon  their  action 
did  victory  depend?  It  was  the  minute-men  and  militia  of  New 
England  who  gave  the  lie  to  the  assertion  of  the  bullying  peers 
of  Britain  that  the  Americans  would  not  fight.  Before  the 
guns  of  these  same  hastily-gathered  militia-men  the  very  flower 
of  the  British  army  reeled  backward  down  the  smoke-wreathed 
slope  of  Bunker  Hill.  It  was  the  militia  of  the  Mohawk 
Valley  who  stood  the  brunt  of  the  bloody  battle  of  Oriskany. 
It  was  the  militia  of  New  Hampshire  and  New  York  who 
stormed  the  earthworks  at  Bennington,  captured  or  scattered 
the  Hessian  foeman  and  saved  Mollie  Stark  from  widowhood. 
It  was  the  militia  who  triumphed  over  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga, 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Revolution  and  made  that  famous  en- 
gagement one  of  the  fifteen  decisive  battles  of  the  world.  It 
was  the  militia  of  the  South  —  the  men  who  marched  with 
Pickens  at  Charleston,  with  Campbell  and  Sevier  at  King's 


I02  SOLDIERS    OF  LIBERTY. 

Mountain,  with  Stephens  at  Guilford  and  with  Marion  at  Eutaw 
—  who  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  regular  Continental  troops 
and,  again  and  again,  turned  defeat  into  victory. 

It  is  in  no  part  the  province  of  this  volume  to  describe  in  de- 
tail the  battles  of  the  Revolution.  Our  duty  lies  rather  in  photo- 
graphing, as  well  as  we  are  able,  the  American  Soldier  who 
fouo-ht  for  the  liberty  of  his  land.  The  story  of  the  several 

<D  » 

engagements  that  begun  at  Lexington  and  ended  at  Yorktown 
has  been  so  often  told  and  re-told  that  to  give  it  space  here 
would  be  but  rehearsing  a  many-times  told  tale. 

But  every  new  battle,  whether  it  ended  in  defeat  or  victory, 
made  the  American  fighter  still  more  a  soldier  and  ever  from 
the  despair  of  the  moment  sprang  a  hope  for  the  future.  In 
whatever  part  of  the  country  the  tramp  of  British  regulars 
startled  the  timid  and  angered  the  brave,  the  demand  for  imme- 
diate action  brought  a  ready  response.  From  farm  and  shop, 
from  village  and  from  clearing  came  the  excited  yeomanry 
hurrying  to  the  support  of  the  harassed  Continentals. 

The  very  lack  of  any  distinctive  uniform  among  those 
hastily-gathered  recruits  served  a  double  purpose,  in  that  it  was 
at  once  a  test  of  their  patriotism  and  a  blind  to  the  enemy. 

When,  at  Bennington,  the  aroused  New  England  farmers 
answered  the  summons  of  the  gallant  Stark  and  encompassed 
the  rear  of  Baum's  heavily-armed  Hessians  the  very  manner  of 
their  coming  disarmed  suspicion.  The  detested  foreigners  were 
all  regulars,  "picked,"  says  Mr.  Fiske,  "from  the  bravest  of  the 
troops  which  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  had  led  to  victory  at 
Creveld  and  Minden."  What  could  a  force  of  unskilled 
countrymen  do  against  this  historic  prowess  ?  And  yet 
Yankee  shrewdness  overmatched  German  tactics.  Stealthily 
and  leisurely,  almost  as  if  seeking  protection,  the  little  squads 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  103 

of  farmers,  dressed  in  their  long  blue  frocks  and  not  over  a 
dozen  in  a  company,  hung  on  the  flanks  of  the  German  invaders 
or  strolled  carelessly  to  the  rear.  Good  General  Baum,  a  vet- 
eran of  the  stately  European  battle-fields  counted  these  strag- 
glers as  nothing  more  than  the  Tory  farmers  whom  he  had 


THE    BATTLE   OF   ORISKANY. 


expected  to  come  within  his  lines,  seeking  protection  from  their 
rebel  neighbors.  But,  ere  the  sun  set,  Bennington  saw  another 
sight.  For  when  the  Indian  fighter  Stark,  at  the  head  of  five 
hundred  militia,  boldly  charged  the  Hessians  in  front,  these 
groups  of  supposed  Tory  farmers,  now  grown  to  five  hundred 


I04  SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY. 

or  more,  levelled  their  muskets  at  the  King's  troops  and,  from 
rear  and  flank,  poured  in  a  murderous  fire.  Thus  was  Ben- 
nington  made  a  victory  for  the  Colonists. 

In  like  manner,  of  the  forty-eight  hundred  men  who  rallied 
around  Washington  and,  on  the  field  of  Princeton  faced  the 
veterans  troops  of  England,  more  than  three  fifths  were  mer- 
chants, mechanics  and  farmers,  ignorant  of  war.  Inspired  by 
the  daring  dash  on  the  Hessian  force  at  Trenton  they  had 
rushed  from  their  homes,  careless  of  mid-winter  cold  and  full  of 
the  hope  that,  after  all,  the  liberty  they  had  begun  to  despair 
of  was  not  impossible. 

When,  upon  what  was  at  that  clay  the  very  outskirts  of 
civilization,  St.  Leger  and  his  motley  array  of  seventeen  hun- 
dred mingled  British,  Tories  and  Indians,  tramped  into  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  it  was  the  eisrht  hundred  and  more  Dutchmen 

j    7  O 

of  that  western  frontier  who  rallied  to  the  call  of  heroic  old 
Herkimer  and,  amid  the  pelting  rush  of  one  of  August's  fiercest 
thunder-storms,  fought  and  won  the  battle  of  Oriskany  —  "the 
bloodiest  and  most  picturesque  battle  of  the  Revolution." 

When,  later,  the  pompous  declaration  of  Burgoyne  that, 
with  ten  thousand  men,  he  could  promenade  through  America, 
ended  in  utter  disaster  at  Saratoga,  it  was  the  supporting 
farmers  from  the  country  round  and  from  the  distant  New 
England  hills  who  fought  that  u  battle  of  the  husbandman,"  and 
gained  a  victory,  of  which  it  has  been  said  that  no  martial  event, 
from  the  battle  of  Marathon  to  that  of  Waterloo,  exerted  a 
greater  influence  upon  human  affairs. 

In  the  south,  as  has  been  shown,  planters  and  freeholders 
sprang  to  arms  whenever  their  homes  were  threatened.  The 
unsteadiness  of  the  militia  in  the  early  battles  was  nobly  atoned 
for  at  King's  Mountain,  at  the  Cowpens  and  at  Guilford.  The 


L 


MARION    AMI    MIS    MK.N. 

"  <  )ur  fortress  is  the  JJIKH!  greenwood, 
Our  tent  the  cypress-tree." 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  107 

names  of  Morgan  and  Marion  stand,  side  by  side,  with  those  of 
Herkimer  and  Stark.  "  Colonel  Marion,"  complained  Corn- 
wallis,  "so  wrought  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  that  there 
was  scarcely  an  inhabitant  between  the  Pedee  and  the  Santee 
that  was  not  in  arms  against  us." 

Around  the  name  of  this  dashing  Southern  leader  song  and 
story  have  thrown  all  the  glamour  of  romance.  There  may  be 
more  of  fiction  than  of  fact  in  the  legends  that  have  come  down 
to  us,  but  even  these  at  least  breathe  the  spirit  of  the  times  while 
Bryant's  stirring  lines  fitly  emphasize  the  daring  and  the  reck- 
lessness that  made  the  name  of  "  Marion's  Men  "  a  power  in  all 
that  southern  land  : 

"  Our  band  is  few,  but  true  and  tried. 

Our  leader  frank  and  bold ; 
The  British  soldier  trembles 

When  Marion's  name  is  told. 
Our  fortress  is  the  good  greenwood, 

Our  tent  the  cypress-tree  ; 
We  know  the  forest  round  us, 

As  seamen  know  the  sea. 
We  know  its  walls  of  thorny  vines, 

Its  glades  of  reedy  grass, 
Its  safe  and  silent  islands 

Within  the  dark  morass. 

Wo  to  the  English  soldiery 

That  little  dread  us  near  ! 
On  them  shall  light  at  midnight 

A  strange  and  sudden  fear. 
When,  waking  to  their  tents  on  fire, 

They  grasp  their  arms  in  vain, 
And  they  who  stand  to  face  us 

Are  beat  to  earth  again  ; 
And  they  who  fly  in  terror,  deem 

A  mighty  host  behind, 
And  hear  the  tramp  of  thousands 

Upon  the  hollow  wind. 


Io8  SOLDIERS    OF  LIBERTY. 

Grave  men  there  are  by  broad  Santee, 

Grave  men  with  hoary  hairs  ; 
Their  hearts  are  all  with  Marion, 

For  Marion  are  their  prayers. 
\nd  lovely  ladies  greet  our  band 

With  kindliest  welcoming, 
With  smiles  like  those  of  summer, 

And  tears  like  those  of  spring. 
For  them  we  wear  these  trusty  arms, 

And  lay  them  down  no  more 
Till  we  have  driven  the  Briton, 

For  ever  from  our  shore." 

It  would  indeed  be  but  scant  justice  to  the  Soldiers  of 
Liberty  to  omit  the  praise  that  is  surely  due  to  all  such  irreg- 
ular bodies  of  fi";htin2:  men  as  were  those  who  followed  Marion 

o  o 

and  leaders  like  him.  Even  to  such  lawless  guerrillas  as  were 
the  much-maligned  "  Skinners  "  who  ranged  the  shores  of  the 
Hudson,  perpetually  harassing  the  British  outposts  and  forever 
at  deadly  feud  with  their  Tory  rivals,  the  "  Cowboys,"  should 
be  accorded  a  certain  meed  of  praise.  From  among  these  came 
the  shrewd  and  watchful  three  who,  disdaining  the  bribe  of 
Andre,  frustrated  the  treason  of  Arnold  and  without  hope  of 
reward  "  beyond  virtue  and  an  honest  sense  of  duty  "  saved  the 
patriot  cause  from  the  blackest  kind  of  ruin. 

It  was  the  Kentucky  frontiersmen  led  on  by  George  Rogers 
Clarke  and  John  Sevicr  who  turned  the  tide  at  the  famous 
battle  of  King's  Mountain,  in  South  Carolina,  and  changed 
the  whole  course  of  the  war  in  the  southern  department. 

But,  while  unstinted  praise  may  be  accorded  to  restless 
militia-man  and  irregular  fighter,  it  is  to  the  so-called  "  regular 
army  of  the  United  States"  in  the  days  of  revolution  —  known 
as  the  Continentals -- that  glory  and  honor  most  heartily 
belong. 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  109 

Never  rising  much  above  forty  thousand  men,  falling,  in 
the  last  years  of  the  war,  to  less  than  twenty  thousand,  this 
army  of  the  Congress  was  organized,  equipped  and  kept  in  the 
field  by  the  tireless  energy  of  Washington  and  his  supporters 
in  the  councils  of  the  new-born  nation.  It  was  upon  them 
chiefly  that  their  commander  depended  for  discipline,  efficiency, 
obedience  and  action.  In  their  uniform  of  buff  and  blue  they 
were  a  goodly-appearing  and  sturdy  set  of  fighters,  trim  when 
their  coats  were  new,  picturesque  even  in  their  rags. 

These  were  the  men  who  stood  ever  in  the  gap.  Though 
suffering  often  for  the  very  necessities  of  the  hard  life  of  the 
camp,  they  marched  even  while  they  grumbled  and  fought 
their  bravest  even  in  their  direst  distress.  Believing  always  in 
their  great  commander,  spite  of  faction  in  Congress  and  of  cabal 
among  their  officers,  they  followed  him  from  defeat  to  defeat 
and  from  victory  to  victory  as  loyal  through  all  the  hardships 
of  Valley  Forge  as  in  the  feverish  excitement  of  Monmouth 
and  the  final  triumph  at  Yorktown. 

Their  constancy,  their  valor  and  their  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  liberty  made  victory  possible.  It  was  because  Washington 
could  depend  upon  this  small  but  solid  nucleus  of  a  regular 
army  to  carry  out  his  often  involved  plans  for  stratagem  and 
action  that  he  was  able  to  wage  to  its  final  triumph  the  slow 
but  successful  war  that  ended  in  liberty.  It  was  the  stubborn 
determination  of  these  same  Continentals  that,  at  the  last, 
flung  into  utter  failure  the  attempt  of  the  British  ministry  to 
enslave  three  millions  of  freemen  across  the  western  seas. 

There  is  as  much  truth  as  poetry,  as  much  force  as  fire  in 
those  well-known  lines  of  McMaster  which  show  us  the  serried 
ranks  of  our  first  regular  army,  standing  at  bay,  battling  for  the 
freedom  of  a  people  : 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY. 

«  In  their  ragged  regimentals 
Stood  the  old  Continentals, 

Yielding  not, 

When  the  Grenadiers  were  lunging, 
And  like  hail  fell  the  plunging 

Cannon-shot ; 

When  the  riles    . 

Of  the  isles, 
From  the  smoky  night  encampment,  bore  the  banner  of  the  rampant 

Unicorn, 
And  grummer,  gru.mner,  grummer  rolled  the  roll  of  the  drummer, 

Through  the  morn  ! 

"Then  with  eyes  to  the  front  all, 
And  with  guns  horizontal, 

Stood  our  sires ; 
And  the  balls  whistled  deadly, 
And  in  streams  flashing  redly 
Blazed  the  fires  ; 
As  the  roar 
On  the  shore, 
Swept  the  strong  battle-breakeis  o'er  the  green-sodded  acres 

Of  the  plain  , 

And  louder,  louder,  loudtr,  cracked  the  black  gunpowder, 
Cracking  amain  ! 

"  Now  like  smiths  at  their  forges 
Worked  the  red  St.  George's 

Cannoniers ; 

And  '  the  villainous  saltpetre' 
Rang  a  fierce,  discordant  metre 
Round  their  ears. 
As  the  swift 
Storm-drift, 
With  hot  sweeping  anger,  came  the  horse-guards'  clangry 

On  our  flanks. 

Then  higher   higher,  higher,  burned  the  old-fashioned  fire 
Through  the  ranks ! 

"  Then  the  old-fashioned  Colonel 
Galloped  through  the  white  infernal 
Powder-cloud ; 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY. 
i 

And  his  broad-sword  was  swinging, 
And  his  brazen  throat  was  ringing 
Trumpet  loud. 
Then  the  blue 
Bullets  flew, 
And  the  trooper-jackets  redden  at  the  touch  of  the  leaden 

Rifle-breath. 

And  rounder,  rounder,  rounder,  roared  the  iron  six-pounder 
Hurling  death ! " 


It  is  one  of  the  unfortunate  phases  of  sudden  emancipation 
that  certain  self-seeking  elements  among  the  emancipated 
assert  themselves  all  too  vigorously  and  strive  for  position  and 
for  power.  The  arrogance  of  a  brief  authority  made  far  too 
many  of  those  who  aspired  to  be  directors  or  leaders  selfish 
rather  than  statesman-like,  place-hunters  rather  than  patriots. 

It  is  well  and  wise  that  in  the  story  of  a  nation  only  the 
good  survives.  It  is  better  for  us  and  for  the  memories  of  our 
forefathers  that  in  our  annals  the  matchless  Declaration  of 
Independence  pushes  far  out  of  sight  the  mean-spirited 
"Conway  Cabal,"  that  Bunker  Hill  and  Saratoga  and  King's 
Mountain  leave  but  scant  place  for  the  factions  and  the  feuds, 
the  spites  and  the  frauds  that  so  often  dulled  the  fires  of 
patriotism  and  tarnished  the  glory  of  our  early  American 
Soldiers. 

Who  to-day  ever  thinks  of  the  possibility  of  "  an  old  Con- 
tinental "  being  a  deserter?  And  yet  there  were  renegades 
both  before  and  after  the  days  of  Demont  the  Adjutant;  there 
were  traitors  fully  as  criminal  as  Arnold  the  General.  Who 
in  the  victorious  America  of  to-day  can  believe  that  in  those 
times  that  tried  men's  souls  there  were,  among  those  high  in 
authority  in  the  American  Army,  men  who  undervalued  and 
assailed  the  measures,  the  character,  even  the  loyalty  of  Wash- 


112 


SOLDIERS    OF  LIBERTY. 


ington  ?  And  yet  these  hostile  elements  seemed  at  some  times 
to  be  almost  in  the  majority.  Not  even  the  military  ability  of 
Charles  Lee,  that  arrogant  soldier  of  fortune  whom  men  early 
in  the  Revolution  styled  "  the  Palladium  of  America  "  could 
save  him  from  an  all-consuming  jealousy  of  the  commander-in- 


\VAS1IIN(;TON    REVIEWING    THE    CONTINENTAL    ARMY. 

chief  and  make  him  other  than  a  morose  comrade,  a  lagging  aid, 
a  half-hearted  traitor.  Nor  could  the  hicrh  rank  and  commanding 

*^  e} 

station  of  that  favorite  of  the  Congress,  General  Gates,  temper 
in  any  degree  the  vanity,  the  ambition  and  the  venomous 
rivalries  of  the  man  who  displaced  Schuyler  and  listened  to 
belittlements  of  Washington.  To  one  who  studies  the  unlovely 
characters  of  these  and  such  as  these  even  that  arch-traitor 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  n3 

Benedict  Arnold  seems  at  times  their  superior.  And  indeed 
Arnold's  great  act  of  treachery  should  not  blind  us  to  the 
brilliant  qualities  of  this  brave  and  dashing  American  soldier. 
To  him  may  be  given  much  of  the  credit  of  the  first  attack  on 
Ticonderoga,  of  the  movement  against  Canada,  of  the  night 
dash  on  Trenton  and  of  the  spirited  engagement  at  Freeman's 
Farms  that  made  possible  the  victory  at  Saratoga.  Arrogant 
and  impetuous  though  he  was,  angered  because  other  and  less- 
deserving  officers  had  been  placed  above  him  in  rank,  harassed 
by  debt,  lightly  regarded  by  Congress,  importuned  alike  by 
tories  and  by  Englishmen,  we  must  remember  that  Benedict 
Arnold  even  up  to  the  hour  of  his  treachery  possessed  the 
confidence  and  regard  of  so  shrewd  a  student  of  men  as  George 
Washington  himself.  In  the  very  defects  of  his  nature  lay  the 
pity  of  his  great  crime.  He  was  utterly  lacking  in  the  patri- 
otism that  can  calmly  brook  negligence,  in  the  virtue  that  can 
proudly  endure  injustice. 

With  examples  like  these  among  their  superiors  and 
associates  it  is  to  the  everlasting  honor  of  men  like  Schuyler 
and  Knox  and  Green,  of  Sterling  and  Wayne,  of  Lafayette  and 
"  Light-Horse  Harry  "  Lee  that  with  the  help  of  that  esprit  de 
corps  that  lived  in  the  ragged  ranks  of  the  men  of  Valley 
Forge  they  could  loyally  override  so  hateful  and  hostile  a  spirit 
as  manifested  itself  in  such  contemptible  conspiracies  as  "  the 
Conway  Cabal  "  and  others  of  that  ilk. 

And  so  to-day  it  is  the  valiant  and  true-hearted  officers  of 
the  Revolution  that  we  gladly  recall.  A  noble  and  a  gallant 
list !  Warren,  unflinching  patriot  and  valiant  soldier,  who 
fought  and  fell  a  volunteer  at  Bunker  Hill ;  Knox  the  Boston 
bookseller  and  dear  friend  of  Washington,  brave  as  a  lion,  "  or 
any  braver  thing ; "  Parsons  the  Connecticut  lawyer,  an  adept 


II4  SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY. 


in 


tactics,  intrepid  on  the  field ;  Sterling  the  impetuous  soldier, 
quick-witted,  far-seeing  and  born  for  command;  Wooster  the 
New  York  man  of  wealth  and  ease  who  spurned  the  offer  of 
a  command  in  the  British  army  and  used  his  own  fortune  to 
equip  and  pay  his  officers  and  men  ;  Greene,  "  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Washington,"  so  says  Mr.  Channing,  "  the  best  offi- 
cer of  high  rank  in  the  American  army;''  Schuyler,  painstak- 
ing, unselfish  and  ever-valorous,  standing,  says  Daniel  Webster, 
scarcely  below  Washington  in  the  services  he  rendered  his 
country;  Lincoln,  stubborn  and  unyielding  even  to  the  verge 
of  obstinacy,  but  full  of  the  patriotic  fervor  that  no  disaster  could 
dampen ;  Putnam,  brave  and  valorous  in  the  field  though 
ignorant  of  the  science  of  war  ;  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia  —  "  Light- 
Horse  Harry  "  -the  Phil  Sheridan  of  the  Revolution  ;  Anthony 
Wayne,  the  impetuous,  magnetic  Pennsylvania!!,  called,  at  first, 
"  Dandy  Wayne  "  from  his  extreme  punctiliousness  as  to  dress, 
but  in  time  "  Mad  Anthony,"  because  of  his  dash,  his  recklessness 
and  his  daring ;  Morgan  the  brilliant  backwoodsman  and 
George  Roo-ers  Clarke  the  brave  young  Western  borderer  whose 

O  C5  J  O 

gallantry    and    skill    saved     the    vast    western    frontier    to   the 
United   States. 

And  how  this  list  could  be  extended !  From  general  and 
staff  officer  down  through  all  the  grades  of  rank  to  the  aspiring 
lieutenant  and  the  still  humbler  private  the  names  of  those 
brave  men  who  heroically  faced  defeat,  distress  and  death  and 
made  the  final  triumph  possible  find,  all,  their  proper  place  on 
the  imperishable  roll  of  patriotism.  From  Sergeant  Jasper, 
climbing  the  riddled  staff  on  Fort  Moultrie  and  nailing  at  its 
peak  his  country's  flag  amid  the  whistling  storm  of  British 
bullets,  to  plucky  Jack  Van  Arsdale  "shinning  up"  the  crippled 
flag-staff  on  the  battery  at  New  York  that  the  banner  of  the  tri- 


SOLDIERS   OF  LIBERTY.  n5 

umphant  Colonies  might  float  in  triumph  above  the  heads  of  the 
retreating  British,  the  annals  of  the  American  Revolution  are 
replete  with  heroism.  It  was  Sergeant  Ezra  Lee  of  Connecticut 
who,  moving  stealthily  among  the  war-ships  of  England,  tried 
with  his  clumsy  infernal  machine  to  blow  up  the  British  fleet. 
It  was  William  Barton  the  young  Providence  captain  who 
boldly  pushed  into  the  enemy's  lines  and  actually  kidnaped 
the  invading  commander,  the  British  General  Prescott.  It 
was  the  boatmen  of  Arnold  the  traitor  who  having,  all  un- 
suspecting, rowed  him  to  the  Vulture  man-of-war  stoutly  re- 
fused his  bribes  and  threats  to  induce  them  to  desert.  It 
was  the  mutinous  soldiers  of  the  Pennsylvania  regiments  who, 
when  on  the  march  to  Princeton  to  force  from  Congress  redress 

o 

for  unendurable  negligence,  angrily  spurned  the  offers  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  to  buy  them  to  his  side  and  hung  his  messen- 
gers as  spies.  It  was  the  garrison  of  two  that  held  the  fort 
at  Vincennes  against  eight  hundred  British  troops  and  after 
the  surrender  marched  proudly  out  with  all  the  honors  of  war. 
It  would  be  but  partial  justice  to  American  blood  to  fail 
to  remember  that  in  the  seven  years'  contest  for  freedom  there 
was  another  side.  There  were  Americans  who  fought  for 

o 

freedom ;  there  were  Americans  who  remained  loyal  to  their 
acknowledged  king.  It  was  these  latter — Royalist,  Loyalist, 
or  Tory,  call  them  what  we  will  —  who  through  impulse,  inter- 
est or  a  mistaken  sense  of  loyalty  remained  faithful  to  the 
crown  of  England.  During  the  long  contest  waged  by  the 
revolutionists  of  America  it  is  claimed  that  fully  thirty  thou- 
sand provincials  entered  the  British  army  and  fought  against 
their  brothers,  their  neighbors  and  their  former  friends.  The 
striking  uniform  of  green  in  which  these  battalions  of  "  Loyal 
Americans  "  were  first  clothed  gave  place  before  the  war  was 


n6  SOLDIERS    OF  LIBERTY. 

over  to  the  brilliant  scarlet  that  was  the  badge  of  British 
discipline.  But  all  the  same  whether  in  green  or  in  scarlet 
these  thirty  thousand  followers  of  the  banner  of  the  king  were 
American  Soldiers. 

For  fully  a  century  the  name  of  "  Tory  "  has,  in  America,  been 
the  synonym  of  all  that  is  base  in  treachery,  false  in  friendship 
and  cruel  in  war.  While  the  old  feuds  rankled  in  the  families 
whose  heads  had  taken  different  ways  in  that  terrible  strife, 
while  personal  quarrels  intensified  political  differences  this  in- 
justice toward  those  of  opposing  views  was  perhaps  unavoid- 
able. But  the  years  that  leave  those  hot  days  of  faction 
further  and  further  in  the  background  should  brino>  to  us  who 

£3  O 

look  back  upon  them  calmness,  candor  and  dispassionate 
judgment.  If  these  are  to  be  employed  in  the  study  of  the 
past  we  must  accord  to  the  long-despised  Tories  of  the  Revolu- 
tion valor,  integrity  and  renown.  They  wagered  their  all  on 
their  opinions.  They  fought  and  they  lost.  And  we,  looking 
at  the  result  from  their  stand-point,  can  surely  say  with  them 

"  For  Loyalty  is  still  the  same 
Whether  it  win  or  lose  the  game." 

All  over  the  continent,  so  we  have  the  assurance  of  his- 
torians and  observers,  the  "  loyal  "  provincial  regiments  proved 
on  many  a  stubborn  field  their  worthiness  to  stand  in  line 
with  the  veterans  of  the  British  army.  Sir  John  Johnson,  Tory 
though  he  was,  showed  himself  yet  more  merciful  than  did  the 
"  peacock  patriots  "  of  Schuyler  and  the  five  thousand  men 
of  Sullivan,  from  whose  raid  on  the  Six  Nations,  in  1779,  dates, 
so  it  is  asserted,  "  the  inextinguishable  hatred  of  the  red-skins 
to  the  United  States." 

As    this  struggle  between  freedom    and    tyranny  was    pro- 


SOLDIERS    OF  LIBERTY.  119 

longed,  the  armies  of  that  same  "  tyranny  "  received  constant 
support  from  local  volunteers.  In  1779  New  York  gave 
Knyphausen  six  thousand  good  troops  from  among  her  citizens. 
The  "  Gentleman  Volunteers  "  of  Boston  were  commanded  by 
Timothy  Ruggles,  declared  even  by  his  foes  to  be  the  best 
soldier  in  the  colonies.  With  Clinton  in  New  York  in  1782 
were  over  two  thousand  Loyalists —  all  battle-scarred  veterans. 
When  Cornwallis  surrendered  at  Yorktown  he  had  with  him 
detachments  from  various  regiments  of  American  Loyalists 
whom  continued  service  and  hard  righting  had  converted  into 
the  very  best  fighting  material. 

The  Pennsylvania  Loyalists  and  the  Queen's  Rangers  of 
Philadelphia  did  efficient  service  for  Great  Britain.  The  Loyal 
Light  Horse  of  Colonel  James  de  Lancey  successfully  with- 
stood the  combined  assault  of  Washington  and  his  French 
allies.  The  New  York  Loyal  Volunteers  decided  by  their 
valor  the  bloody  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs.  And  these  same 
Tories  from  Manhattan,  after  taking  part  in  many  a  well-fought 
contest  were  one  of  the  last  regiments  in  the  British  service  to 
relinquish  their  hold  on  American  soil. 

The  Americans  who  did  not  rebel  may  have  been  mistaken. 
Certainly,  when  the  end  came,  they  suffered  for  their  loyalty 
and  lost  in  exile  and  poverty  the  stake  they  had  wagered  on 
their  honestly-held  opinions.  But  let  us  be  just.  Honor  can 
surely  be  given  where  honor  is  rightly  due.  Even  in  such  a 
strife  as  was  this,  where  brother  shot  down  brother  and  friend 
worked  vengeance  upon  friend,  we  who  now  look  calmly  over 
those  frightful  battle-grounds  can  speak,  with  pride  in  their 
valor  as  soldiers  even  while  we  regret  the  mistake  that  swayed 
their  judgment  and  decided  their  choice,  the  names  of  those 
whom  our  ancestors  condemned  as  "  detested  tories  "  —  Drum- 


120  SOLDIERS    OF  LIBERTY. 

mond  of  New  York,  Delancy  "  the  outlaw  of  the  Bronx,"  Sir 
John  Johnson  the  feudal  lord  of  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk, 
Ruo-o-les  of  Massachusetts,  De  Peyster,  the  hero  of  King's 

£>£> 

Mountain,  whose  New  York  "  Tories  "  seven  times  repelled  the 
furious  charge  of  the  "  rebels,"  Thomas  and  Hovenden  and 
James,  whose  provincials  and  refugees  were  invaluable  as  light 
troops  while  the  British  lay  at  Philadelphia  —  these  and  many 
more  who  might  be  added  prove  that  even  in  the  tory  ranks  we 
have  so  long  been  taught  to  despise  there  lived  the  valor,  the 
bravery  and  the  self-sacrifice  that  have  ever  been  the  peculiar 
pride  of  the  American  Soldier. 

The  smoke  of  conflict  died  away  when  at  Yorktown  the 
charge  on  the  British  redoubt  led  by  Hamilton  and  Lafayette 
showed  to  Cornwallis  the  absolute  impracticability  of  longer 
continuing  his  defense.  The  allied  troops  of  America  and 
France  —  republicanism  and  absolutism  fighting  side  by  side 
-  made  the  United  States  a  nation. 

The  seven  years  of  war  were  ended.  A  strife  that  had  been 
of  slow  but  certain  growth  ever  since  the  days  when  the  first 
colonists  from  across  the  sea  set  foot  on  the  wild  shores  of  the 
New  World  had  come  to  its  logical  conclusion  and  a  nation  of 
freemen  was  born.  On  many  a  stubborn  field,  in  many  a 
bloody  fight  the  sturdy  arm  and  the  valiant  heart  had  proved 
the  moral  strength  that  lay  behind  them.  The  first  endeavors 
of  the  real  American  Soldier  had  brought  from  dependence  in- 
dependence and  through  patriotism  freedom.  Henceforth  the 
troops  of  America  were  to  be  the  Army  of  the  People. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


THE    TROOPS    OF    DISCONTENT. 


O 


N  a  certain  memorable  October  morning  in 
the    year    1781    a    British    drummer    boy 
climbed    to    the    parapet    of    an    English 
redoubt  at  Yorktown.     There,  vigorously 
plying  his  drumsticks,  he  sounded  the  parley. 
Hostilities    ceased.     Two    days    afterward,    at 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  nineteenth 
of  October,  the   British  troops  marched  out  of 
their  works,  with  colors  cased  and  the  soldiers 
of   King  George  laid  down   their  arms  in  sur- 
render. 

Appropriately  enough  their  drums  rattled 
out  the  quickstep  "  The  World  turned  Upside  Down."  The 
world  was  indeed  turned  upside  down  so  far  as  all  the  tradi- 
tions of  power  were  concerned,  for,  with  that  surrender  at 
Yorktown,  the  American  Revolution  practically  came  to  an 
end.  Tyranny  acknowledged  itself  defeated  and  a  "parcel  of 
rebels"  became  a  nation  of  freemen. 

But,  though  the  war  closed  with  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis, 
not  for  two  full  years  did  the  troops  of  England  finally  leave 
the  land  they  had  so  confidently  come  to  conquer.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  of  November,  1783,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  evacuated  the 


121 


122 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 


city  of  New  York.  As  the  British  rear  guard  pushed  off  from 
the  Battery  the  advance  guard  of  the  Americans— a  troop  of 
horse,  a  regiment  of  infantry  and  a  company  of  artillery - 
filed  into  the  deserted  fort.  Through  the  streets  of  the  city 
that  for  fully  seven  years  had  lain  in  possession  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  English  king,  sounded  the  joyful  roll  of  the  drums. 
Escorted  by  Captain  Delavan's  "  West  Chester  Light  Horse," 
Washington  marched  into  the  city  with  a  veteran  following  of 

£j  * 

the  Continental  troops  and  the  last  vestige  of  England's 
authority  in  her  former  colonies  disappeared  forever. 

But  before  that  day  of  evacuation  and  possession  arrived  the 
army  of  the  United  States  had  practically  been  disbanded. 
When  it  became  evident  that  no  further  hostility  on  the  part  of 
England  was  to  be  feared  the  greater  portion  of  the  Continental 
troops  was  dismissed  upon  long  or  indefinite  furloughs.  On 
the  nineteenth  of  April,  1783,  just  eight  years  to  a  day  from  the 
time  of  the  historic  conflict  at  Lexington,  a  cessation  of  hostil- 
ities was  publicly  announced  to  the  American  army,  and  on  the 
eighteenth  of  October  in  the  same  year  that  army  was,  by 
proclamation  of  the  Congress,  officially  disbanded.  This  final 
act  took  effect  on  the  second  of  November  following  and  when, 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  month,  the  city  of  New  York  was 
evacuated  by  the  British  troops  only  a  small  body  of  veteran 
soldiers  under  the  command  of  General  Knox  represented  the 
American  army. 

Peace  brought  respite  from  war,  but  it  by  no  means  brought 
satisfaction  to  those  by  whom  it  had  been  secured.  The  inspir- 
ation of  victory  is  haloed  all  about  with  exultation  and  excite- 
ment. The  after-happenings  of  victory  are  sometimes  singularly 
lacking  in  enthusiasm.  Patriotism  is  broad  and  self-sacrificing 

O* 

but   even  patriotism   needs   to   be   kept  alive  by   such   homely 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 


123 


necessities  as  bread  and  butter.  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
hire  ;  and  when  long-promised  wages  were  not  forthcoming  even 
the  Soldiers  of  Liberty  began  to  grumble. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  at  a  cost  of  one  hundred 
and  forty   millions  of   dollars    had   waged    the  war  of    revolu- 


I'KACE    HV    NO    MEANS    WROUGHT    SATISFACTION. 

tion  to  a  successful  termination.  But  the  cost  of  this  war, 
small  as  it  may  appear  in  these  days  of  vast  expenditures,  had 
loaded  the  States  with  a  burden  of  debt  greater  than  they 
seemed  willing  or  able  to  carry.  The  Congress,  straining  every 
nerve  to  force  out  its  plans  to  success  and  keep  its  armies  in 


I24  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

the  field,  was  scarcely  able  to  meet  even  the  bare  necessities  of 
war  and  when  Cornwallis  laid  down  his  arms  at  Yorktown  the 
United  States  of  America  found  themselves  largely  in  arrears 
to  the  very  men  by  whose  valor  their  existence  had  been  ren- 
dered possible. 

The  two  years  that  intervened  between  the  surrender  at 
Yorktown  and  the  evacuation  of  New  York  were  full  of  discon- 
tent and  orumblins:.  Brave  men  who  had  sacrificed  so  much 

O  <J 

for  the  cause  they  had  enlisted  to  defend  felt  that  the  people  in 
whose  interests  they  had  fought  should  at  least  pay  to  them  the 
wages  that  were  their  due.  But  even  justice  seemed  to  halt. 
There  were  exasperating  delays  on  the  part  of  Congress,  punct- 
uated only  by  unfulfilled  promises ;  there  was  discontent  on  the 
part  of  the  army  interspersed  with  frequent  mutterings  that 
threatened  to  break  into  absolute  rebellion.  And  so  the  months 
went  slowly  by. 

With  doubts,  not  only  as  to  the  ability  but  as  to  the  grati- 
tude, even,  of  the  American  people  the  army  that  had  made 
them  a  people  disbanded.  Already  in  this  very  year  of  1783 
the  orowins:  discontent  amonq;  the  soldiers  had  threatened 

o  O  O 

to  develop  into  serious  action.  The  half-rebellious  Newburg 
address  which  voiced  this  •  discontent  of  the  veteran  fighters 
had  in  it,  looked  at  from  their  standpoint,  a  certain  amount  of 
justice  and  excuse.  But  the  very  circulation  of  such  an  address 
argued  a  condition  approaching  to  mutiny;  and  even  injustice 
is  no  excuse  for  insubordination.  Washington  was  not  the  sort 
of  man  to  tolerate  insurrection.  He  speedily  frowned  down  an 
attempt  which  had  the  approval  even  of  certain  of  his  col- 
leagues and,  by  his  wisdom,  his  tact  and  his  firmness,  prevented 
a  movement  on  the  part  of  the  army  which,  if  carried  out, 
would  have  made  the  Soldiers  of  Liberty  but  little  better  than 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT.  125 

those  military  dictators  of  old  —  the  Praetorian  Guards  of  the 
soldier-made  Caesars  of  Rome.  The  Lancaster  revolt  of  the 
same  year  which  actually  did  drive  Congress  in  terror  from 
its  chambers  and  well-nigh  upset  the  government  itself  was 
another  mistaken  act  on  the  part  of  the  discontented  soldiers. 

These  mutterings  of  discontent  ran  through  several  years 
and  were  only  finally  settled  by  the  issue  of  Continental  certifi- 
cates for  the  payment  of  the  soldiers'  claims.  These  paper 
promises  to  pay,  however,  were  not  money.  Their  value  was 
almost  fictitious,  and  many  a  poor  soldier  who  had  fought  for 
the  liberty  of  the  land,  when  pressed  for  the  very  necessities  of 
life,  was  forced  to  dispose  of  these  Continental  certificates  at  a 
ruinous  sacrifice  —  sometimes  as  low  as  one  sixth  of  their  value. 

But  the  war  was  over  and  the  army  was  disbanded.  In  June, 
1784,  eighty  men  represented  all  that  remained  of  the  army 
of  the  Congress.  Of  this  number  twenty-five  were  detailed  for 
service  at  Fort  Pitt  on  the  Ohio  frontier  and  fifty-five  guarded 
the  almost  useless  munitions  of  war  at  West  Point.  Sturdy 
old  General  Lincoln,  the  Secretary  of  War,  found  himself  with 
no  army  to  direct  and  retired  to  private  life. 

And  yet  it  was  evident  that  soldiers  were  a  necessity.  The 
undefended  frontier  on  the  north  and  west  demanded  attention. 
Congress,  however,  had  no  power  to  maintain  a  standing  army 
in  time  of  peace  and  when  a  motion  was  made  to  create  such 
an  army,  even  though  limited  to  a  few  hundred  men,  so  loud 
was  the  cry  against  it  by  those  who  deemed  it  a  menace  to  the 
liberties  of  the  people  that,  as  a  compromise,  the  several  States 
were  invited  bv  Congress  to  raise  their  own  armies  for  their  own 

J  O       _ 

defense.  Action  was  taken  on  this  suggestion,  and  on  the 
third  of  June,  1784,  an  ordinance  was  passed  recommending  to 
the  States  of  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Penn- 


I26  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

sylvania  that  they  raise  between  them  a  force  of  seven  hundred 
men  to  garrison  their  frontiers  for  one  year. 

When,  finally,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  became 
the  law  of  the  land  there  existed,  in  the  year  i  788,  a  United 
States  army  of  the  magnificent  proportions  of  five  hundred  and 
ninety-five  men  and  two  companies  of  artillery  numbering 
seventy-one  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates.  These  sol- 
diers of  the  union  were  distributed  among  the  few  military  posts 
kept  up  by  Congress.  A  small  number  were  stationed  at  West 
Point;  the  remainder  were  on  duty  at  certain  of  the  stockaded 
forts  in  the  Western  country. 

The  early  years  of  the  new  nation  were  years  of  disturbance 
and  discontent.  People  scarcely  knew  what  was  to  be  the 
character  of  the  government  under  which  they  were  to  live. 
Until  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  the  several  States  were 
leagued  together  only  by  a  half-way  sort  of  mutual  consent  that 
was  as  brittle  and  uncertain  a  bond  as  would  be  a  rope  of  sand. 
Even  within  the  States  themselves  the  law-makers  of  each  com- 
monwealth found  themselves  at  variance  with  the  very  people 
they  were  elected  to  represent.  Discontent  not  unfrequently 
flamed  out  into  real  rebellion,  mobs  and  riots  were  of  common 
occurrence  and  those  who  had  stood  in  the  ranks  of  liberty 
were  often  all  too  ready  to  side  with  the  malcontents  and  fight 
against  the  very  authority  they  had  helped  to  create. 

Disturbances  growing  out  of  the  question  of  the  rightful 
ownership  and  occupation  of  land  often  developed  into  actual 
bloodshed  and  those  who  had  fought  side  by  side  on  the  battle- 
fields of  the  Revolution  found  themselves  facing  each  other, 
hot  and  angry,  in  the  strife  for  possession.  One  of  these  inter- 
state disturbances  was  the  attempt  by  Pennsylvania  in  1784  to 
oust  from  its  hill  country  about  the  Wyoming  certain  families 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT.  127 

from  the  East  who  had  settled  there  under  the  disputed  Con- 
necticut grants.  The  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  fancy- 
ing its  rights  invaded  by  the  coming  of  these  "  Yankee " 
settlers  sent  detachments  from  their  State  army  to  drive 
away  these  old-time  **  boomers."  Coining  upon  the  settlers  when 
floods  and  fearful  weather  had  well-nigh  disheartened  them,  the 
Pennsylvania  militia,  led  first  by  the  mean-spirited  lawyer 
Patterson  and  next  by  the  stern  old  soldier  Armstrong,  harried 
the  settlers  with  fire  and  with  sword  and  dealt  with  them  as 
ruthlessly  and  almost  as  brutally  as  had  the  Tories  of  Butler  and 
the  Indians  of  Brant  in  that  historic  foray  that  has  made  the 
massacre  of  Wyoming  one  of  the  saddest  pictures  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary story.  But  brutality  found  its  Nemesis.  Among  the 
settlers  were  men  who  knew  what  it  meant  to  fight ;  and  fight 
they  did.  At  last  even  the  laws  of  the  State  stepped  in  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  brutality  of  Patterson  and  the  treachery  of  Arm- 
strong, and  when  these  two  leaders  attempted  to  resist  the 
authority  of  the  State,  they  fell  before  the  righteous  though 
eleventh-hour  indignation  of  an  awakened  people. 

It  was  in  the  line  of  similar  protests  against  authority  and 
law  that  the  "  military  operations  "  of  the  troops  of  discontent 
were  conducted  during  the  years  that  succeeded  the  close  of 
the  Revolution.  Uncertain  as  to  their  corporate  standing, 
slowly  feeling  their  way  toward  a  solid  footing  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  the  people  of  the  newly-united  States 
made  many  mistakes  of  judgment,  many  lapses  into  faction. 

Quick  to  criticise  and  all  too  ready  to  coin  their  objections 
into  threats  those  among  the  masses  who  felt  themselves  un- 
justly treated  by  the  acts  of  their  own  law-makers  — "  the 
servants  of  the  people"  —  were  quickly  roused  to  rebel  against 
the  constituted  authority  and  to  dictate  where  they  should 


I2g  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

submit.     It  took  long  years  of  harsh  experience  for  the  people 
of  the   United  States  to  yield  unquestionably  to  the  will  of  the 

majority. 

Out  of  such  unsettled  conditions  and  from  such  popular 
protests  came  much  trouble  and  no  little  use  for  the  fast- 
rustino-  muskets  of  the  Revolution.  One  of  the  earliest,  as  one 

£> 

of  the  most  serious  of  these  disturbances  was  that  known  as 
Shays'  Rebellion. 

This  celebrated  rising  grew  out  of  questions  as  to  the 
proprietorship  of  land,  out  of  the  pressure  of  the  hard  times, 
the  unwise  exactions  of  those  who  held  claims  for  money  due, 
the  weaknesses  of  certain  laws  enacted  and  especially  the 
attempt,  in  Massachusetts,  to  levy  State  and  federal  taxes. 

In  the  "  ranks  of  the  poor "  were  many  who  had  been 
soldiers  in  the  Continental  Army.  The  revolt  drew  to  its  sup- 
port numbers  of  people  in  Western  Massachusetts,  in  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont,  and  even  in  Eastern  New  York.  The 
leader  was  Captain  Daniel  Shays.  He  was  a  man  who  had 
seen  service  in  the  Revolution  and  the  malcontents  who  put 
themselves  under  his  command  were  speedily  drilled  into  some 
semblance  of  military  discipline.  But  an  armed  mob  is  much 
like  a  pirate  crew.  Both  are  outlaws  and  all  attempts  at 
discipline  or  authority  are  rated  only  at  second-hand.  Leader- 
ship is  an  uncertain  quantity.  Number  One  is  always  the  main 
consideration.  So,  when  the  army  of  Massachusetts,  forty-four 
hundred  strong  and  marshaled  by  stout  old  General  Lincoln, 
put  itself  in  motion  and  actually  faced  the  malcontents  in 
fight  the  mutinous  spirit  speedily  yielded  to  the  organized 
forces  of  Law.  There  was  much  threatening  and  bluster, 
no  little  show  of  resistance,  and  some  fighting,  even  ;  but 
the  determination  of  Lincoln  and  his  militia  carried  the  day 


THE    TKOOrS   OF  DISCONTENT. 


129 


and  saved  not  alone  the  State  of  Massachusetts  but  the  entire 
confederation  of  States  from  what  might  have  been  a  disas- 
trous and  suicidal  popular  sentiment. 

It  is  in  dealing  with  the  troops  of  discontent  that  real  dis- 
cipline best  exhibits  itself.  To  be  stern  and  unyielding  when 
occasion  demands,  to  be  lenient  and  forgiving  when  superiority 
is  once  established  —  this  is  the  only  course  that  wins  in  all 
encounters  with  mobs. 

When  Shays  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  men  marched 
upon  the  arsenal  at  Springfield  the  commandant,  General 


NO   FEES,    NO    EXECUTIONS,    NO   SHERIFF !" 


Shepard,  thinking  to  frighten  the  invaders  ordered  his  men  to 
fire  in  the  air.  But  the  rebel  ranks  contained  too  many  old 
soldiers  who  had  smelled  powder  on  real  battle-fields  and 
Shepard  only  recovered  from  his  mistake  by  an  actual  and  dis- 
astrous volley.  When  General  Cobb,  an  old  Revolutionary 
officer,  was  menaced  by  the  rioters  at  Taunton  where  he  was 
holding  court  as  judge  he  faced  them  without  an  instant's  delay 


I30  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

and  bade  them  disperse.  "  Sirs,"  he  said,  "  you  cannot  frighten 
me.  I  shall  either  sit  here  as  a  judge  or  die  here  as  a  general." 
"  I  do  not  care  a  rap  for  your  bayonets,"  shouted  that  sturdy 
Revolutionary  veteran,  Artemas  Ward,  a  judge  of  Massachusetts 
but  an  old  soldier  as  well,  when  the  guards  of  the  rioters  barred 
his  way  into  the  court-house  at  Worcester ;  "  run  'em  through 
me  if  you  dare  !  I  am  here  to  do  my  duty  and  I'll  do  it  if  I 
die  for  it."  Firmness  in  emergencies  is  almost  certain  to  win 
and  firmness  was  a  quality  eminently  possessed  by  the  old 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution. 

"  No  fees,  no  executions,  no  sheriff !  "  was  the  demand  of  the 
rioters  at  a  later  day  around  this  same  court-house  at  Worcester. 
The  sheriff,  plucky  Colonel  Greenleaf,  looked  undismayed  upon 
the  triple  line  of  bayonets  levelled  to  bar  his  progress.  "  All 
right,"  he  replied  calmly ;  "  if  you  think  the  fees  for  executions 
are  too  high  —  why,  I'll  hang  you  all  for  nothing  and  high 
enough  to  suit  you  too."  "  '  Burgoyne'  Lincoln  and  his  army," 
was  the  cry  of  the  rebels  in  Western  Massachusetts  when  they 
heard  of  the  military  advance  against  them.  But  Lincoln  and 
his  army  were  not  to  be  "  Burgoyned."  The  rising  of  the  peo- 
ple to  oppose  the  march  of  the  invading  British  General  whose 
defeat  at  Saratoga  gave  victory  to  Revolution  was  not  to  be 
repeated  when  the  invaders  and  the  people  were  of  the  same 
kin.  Lincoln's  spirited  march  through  winter  snows  showed 
that  this  old  campaigner,  this  valiant  secretary  of  war  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary days  was  not  to  be  trifled  with  and  rebellion  finally 
yielded  to  law.  Defeated  and  dispirited  the  Troops  of  Discon- 
tent lay  down  their  arms  at  the  feet  of  Authority,  the  rebellion 
broke  into  pieces  and  the  danger  that  was  so  widely  feared  was 
at  last  averted. 

This  anti-tax  rebellion  in  the  North  found  its  counterpart  in 


THE   TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT.  131 

an  anti-tax  uprising  in  the  South.  The  protest  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  in  1794,  against  the  federal  tax 
upon  spirit  distilled  within  the  United  States  again  awoke  the 
troops  of  discontent  who  provoked  that  dramatic  episode  in 
American  history  known  as  the  "  Whiskey  Insurrection." 
Seven  thousand  men  marshaled  by  Bradford  the  "Commander- 
in-chief  "  of  the  revolt  pledged  themselves  to  resist  to  the 
last  the  collection  of  the  objectionable  tax  and  speedily  laid 
the  whole  region  within  the  shadow  of  the  Alleghanies  under 
the  terror  of  mob  rule  and  military  despotism.  "  The  whole 
western  country,"  says  Mr.  McMaster,  "began  in  the  language 
of  that  time,  to  bristle  with  anarchy-poles.  From  some  floated 
red  flags  bearing  the  name  of  the  rebellious  counties.  On 
others  were  the  words  4  Liberty  or  Death,'  or  '  Liberty  and 
Equality,'  or  '  No  Excise.' ' 

But  the  government  acted  quickly.  President  Washington 
made  a  requisition  on  the  governors  of  Maryland,  Virginia, 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  and  fifteen  thousand  men  under 
the  command  of  "  Light  Horse  Harry  "Lee  —  a  fighter  of  the 
old  wars  —  marched  against  the  malcontents.  The  battle-cry 
of  the  rebels  was  "  Liberty  and  no  Excise."  But  Liberty  to 
them  meant  License.  "  No  Excise  "  meant  the  free  distillation 
of  whiskey.  As  the  troops  advanced,  the  discontented  elements 
fled  before  Light  Horse  Harry's  men.  They  could  make  no 
stand  against  organized  opposition. 

The  rising  was  speedily  quelled.  It  was  a  bloodless  rebellion 
indeed  and  though  of  sufficient  force  to  seem  at  one  time  to 
threaten  the  very  existence  of  the  Union  the  strength  of  the 
military  force  gathered  for  its  overthrow  was  so  irresistible 
that  danger  was  averted  and  once  again  the  Troops  of  Dis- 
content dispersed  at  the  advance  of  Authority. 


I32  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

In  one  way  or  another,  though  less  serious  than  were  the 
disturbances  already  cited,  did  the  chafing  Of  the  people  of 
the  new  nation  under  unfamiliar  and  untried  laws  display 
itself  in  resistance  and  revolt.  It  is  unpleasant  to  note  that 
the  conduct  of  the  soldiers  enlisted  to  quell  these  insurrections 
seems  to  have  been  open  to  criticism.  Military  power,  when 
unchecked,  frequently  becomes  tyranny.  The  brutalities  of 
Armstrong's  troops  in  the  Wyoming  trouble  of  1784  appear 
to  have  found  its  counterpart  in  the  outrages  by  the  militia  of 
the  same  Quaker  State  of  Pennsylvania  during  the  short-lived 
troubles  of  1799,  known  as  Fries'  Rebellion.  These  instances 
of  over-zeal,  however,  were  to  be  expected  in  so  crude  and  unor- 
ganized a  body  of  troops  as  was  the  citizen  soldiery  of  the 
United  States  in  the  last  days  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

But  this  crudeness,  so  prone  to  display  itself  in  offensive 
measures  upon  unresisting  women  and  children,  was  compelled 
to  stand  a  test  of  quite  another  sort  when  brought  into  battle 
against  the  red  warriors  of  the  frontier. 

o 

The  Indians  of  the  west  resisted  with  reasonable  justice  the 
encroachments  of  the  settlers  who  were  crowding  into  their 
lands  beyond  the  Ohio.  Remonstrance  and  appeal  meeting 
with  no  attention  or  resulting  only  in  a  contemptuous  continu- 
ance of  occupation,  the  red-men  resorted  to  their  final  arguments 
—  the  torch,  the  rifle  and  the  tomahawk.  "No  white  man 
shall  plant  corn  in  Ohio."  This  was  the  Indian  fiat.  "  That 
the  threat  was  not  an  empty  one/1  says  Mr.  Black,  "  soon 
became  apparent.  The  planter  fell  in  his  tracks.  The  crops 
were  burned  and  mangled  by  unseen  hands.  Death  lurked  on 
the  Kentucky  frontier.  There  must  be  war." 

The  settlers  demanded  protection.  The  government  re- 
sponded to  their  appeal,  and  in  September,  1790,  General  Josiah 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 


'33 


Harmar  with  an  army  of  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty  men  was 
sent  into  the  Ohio  country  to  "  discipline  "  the  Indians.  But, 
alas,  the  boot  was  found  to  be  quite  upon  the  other  foot ! 

14  Never  before,"  says  Mr.  Me  Master,  "had  such  a  collec- 
tion of  men  been  dignified  with  the  name  of  army."  The  troops 
were  without  discipline,  intelligence  or  decent  equipment.  The 
officers  were  jealous,  incompetent  and  ignorant  of  military 
rules.  As  was  to  be  expected,  this  collection  of  "  ragged  regi- 
ments "  proved  no  match  for 
the  wary  and  warlike  Indians. 
The  expedition  ended,  as 
might  have  been  conjectured, 
in  defeat  and  disgrace,  and 
the  remnant  of  his  army,  says 
Mr.  Black,  "  which  Harmar 
led  back  to  Cincinnati  had 
the  unsubdued  savages  al- 
most continually  at  their 
heels." 

A  second  expedition  au- 
thorized by  the  President  was  sent  against  the  Ohio  Indians 
in  the  autumn  of  the  next  year.  It  mustered  two  thousand 
three  hundred  regulars  and  six  hundred  militia  and  was  under 
the  command  of  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  the  governor  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  and  a  prominent  officer  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. This  second  army  met  with  an  even  more  disastrous 
defeat  than  did  the  troops  of  Harmar. 

Torn  with  official  jealousies,  weak  in  discipline  and  detail, 
shamefully  supplied  with  useless  equipments  by  unfaithful 
government  agents,  shaking  with  chills  and  fever,  hungry,  tired, 
sick,  and  altogether  heedless  as  to  their  surroundings,  St.  Clair's 


ON   THE   FRONTIER. 


I34  THE    TROOPS    OF  DISCONTENT. 

army  was  on  the  third  of  November,  1791,  surrounded,  am- 
bushed and  attacked  by  a  host  of  Indians  led  on  by  Brant  the 
half-breed  u  hero  of  Wyoming "  and  utterly  and  terribly 
defeated. 

Twice  outgeneraled  and  twice  so  utterly  routed !  It  was  a 
bad  record  for  the  American  soldier  —  a  fighter  who  had  proved 
his  valor  on  many  a  bloody  field.  But  American  pluck,  without 
a  final  struggle,  would  not  leave  the  Western  country  to  the 
victorious  Indians. 

A  fresh  force  was  at  once  enlisted.  Five  thousand  men 
made  up  this  new  army  of  the  West.  During  the  winter  of 
1791-92  these  fresh  troops  were,  according  to  the  direction  of 
President  Washington,  "  trained  and  disciplined "  for  the 
especial  service  they  had  entered  upon.  "  Do  not  spare  powder 
and  lead,"  wrote  Washington,  "so  the  men  be  made  marksmen." 

The  result  was  an  army  altogether  different  from  those  of 
Harmar  and  St.  Clair.  This  army  of  invasion  was  rather 
pompously  styled  the  Legion  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
especially  trained  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  Indian  warfare  and 
was  divided  not  into  brigades  and  regiments  but  into  four  sub- 
legions  provided  with  legionary  and  sub-legionary  officers. 

The  command  was  given  to  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the 
Revolutionary  heroes,  General  Anthony  Wayne,  the  conqueror 
of  Stony  Point.  "  A  better  officer,"  says  McMaster,  "could  not 
have  been  found."  A  born  soldier,  one  whose  boyhood  had 
been  passed  in  constructing  mud-forts  and  teaching  his  com- 
rades how  to  storm  redoubts,  this  gallant  Pennsylvanian  had 
fought  with  valor  through  the  Revolution,  had  been  decorated 
by  Congress  for  his  bravery  and  enthusiastically  nicknamed 
by  his  soldiers  and  the  people  "  Mad  Anthony  Wayne." 

He  assumed   the   command  determined    to   win.     And    he 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT.  137 

did  win.  With  an  army  made  efficient  through  careful  drill, 
through  discipline,  appropriate  equipment  and  all  the  requisites 
that  its 'unfortunate  predecessors  had  lacked  the  "Legion  of 
the  United  States"  marched  into  the  Ohio  country,  made  a 
vigorous  attack  upon  the  Indians  and  their  Canadian  allies 
and  in  the  bloody  battle  of  the  Maumee  fought  on  the 
twentieth  of  August,  1794,  with  all  the  valor  of  Monmouth 
and  all  the  dash  of  Stony  Point,  utterly  routed  and  scattered 
the  Indian  foeman.  "Such  was  the  impetuosiiy  of  the  charge, 
by  the  first  line  of  infantry,"  so  runs  General  Wayne's  report, 
44  that  the  Indian  and  Canadian  militia  and  volunteers  were 
driven  from  their  coverts  in  so  short  a  time  that  but  a  part 
of  the  legion  could  get  up  in  season  to  participate  in  the 
action." 

Almost  as  ferocious  and  still  more  famous  because  it  made 
the  record  of  a  brave  American  soldier  and  a  popular  American 
president  was  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.  This  celebrated  Indian 
engagement  was  fought  within  the  limits  of  the  Illinois  country 
in  the  year  1811.  Uniting  for  the  annihilation  of  the  white 
man,  under  their  politic  and  patriotic  chieftain  Tecumthe, 
the  Indians  of  the  northwest  confederated  for  white  destruction, 
burst  upon  the  little  army  of  General  Harrison  in  the  dark 
of  the  early  morning  of  the  seventh  of  November,  1811.  Ft 
was  an  unwise  move  for  the  red-man  and  was  brought  about, 
not  by  the  genius  of  Tecumthe,  but  by  the  influence  of  his 
uncanny-looking  kinsman  "  The  Prophet."  Harrison's  nine 
hundred  men  sturdily  stood  their  ground.  The  battle  was 
long  and  bloody,  the  loss  in  officers  was  especially  noticeable, 
but  the  Indians  were  defeated  and  Tecumthe's  carefully-laid 
plan  for  an  Indian  confederacy  was  forever  overthrown. 

In   all    the   hostile  encounters  succeeding  the    Revolution 


I38  THE    TROOPS    OF  DISCONTENT. 

there  was,  indeed,  much  that  must  astonish  and  annoy  the 
patriotic  student  of  American  character  who  cannot  precisely 
square  the  cowardice  and  unruliness,  the  crudeness  and  the 
lack  of  discipline  with  the  standing  of  Revolutionary  veterans 
and  the  traditions  of  American  valor.  But,  even  while  admit- 
ting the  existence  of  these  negative  qualities,  there  must  be 
found  in  the  story  of  those  immature  days  much  that  can 
brighten  an  uninteresting  record  and  illumine  an  often-clouded 
picture. 

There  was,  as  we  have  seen,  alike  pluck  and  courage  in 
the  days  of  discontent.  And,  even  in  Harmar's  undisciplined 
foray,  the  skill  and  daring  of  such  true-hearted  soldiers  as 
Major  Fontaine  of  the  Regulars  shed  a  certain  glory  over  the 
gloom  of  defeat.  The  spirited  bayonet  charge  of  Colonel 
Darke,  roused  to  fury  at  the  fall  of  his  son,  almost  retrieved 
the  disasters  of  St.  Clair.  The  pluck  and  valor  of  Anthony 
Wayne's  nine  hundred,  who  at  the  Maumee  Rapids  routed  a 
British  and  Indian  force  of  more  than  twice  their  number,  were 
emphatically  displayed  in  deeds  of  personal  prowess  that  were 
inspired  by  the  bravery  and  bearing  of  the  intrepid  commander. 

"  In  what  light,  sir,"  demanded  the  British  commandant, 
Major  Campbell,  "  am  I  to  view  such  near  approaches  of  an 
American  army  almost  within  reach  of  the  guns  of  a  post 
belonging  to  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Great  Britain  ?  " 

"  The  muzzles  of  my  small  arms,  sir,  in  yesterday's  fight 
gave  the  most  full  and  most  satisfactory  answer  to  your  ques- 
tion," Wayne  defiantly  replied.  "  Had  the  action  continued 
until  the  Indians  were  driven  to  the  protection  of  the  post  you 
mention  even  the  guns  of  that  post  would  not  have  impeded 
the  progress  of  the  victorious  army  under  my  command." 

On  the  field  of  Tippecanoe  —  that  bloody  battle  in  the  dark 


THE    TKOOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 


'39 


-  the  vigilance  and  valor  of  General  Harrison  brought  to  his 
name  a  lasting  renown  and  inspired  the  men  who  won  that 
historic  victory;  for  Tippecanoe,  though  a  triumph  dearly 
bought,  was  far-reaching  in  its  results. 

"  Where  is  the  captain  of  this  company  ? "  the  general 
demanded  as,  peering  through  the  gloom  he  saw  on  the  high 
ground  where  the  prairies  meet  a  little  body  of  men  gallantly 
holding  their  own.  "  Dead,  sir,"  said  the  young  Ensign  Tipton. 
41  Where  are  the  lieutenants?"  "Dead."  "Where  is  the 
ensign  ?  "  "  I  am  here."  "  Stand  fast,  my 
brave  fellow,"  said  the  general  with  a  look 
of  approval  at  the  gallant  little  band  and 
its  no  less  gallant  leader;  "one  moment 
longer  and  I  will  relieve  you."  The  relief 
came  and  the  victory  of  Tippecanoe  was 
assured. 

For  any  lack  of  valor,  of  discipline  or 
of   martial  moods   in  the  davs  of  conflict 

*• 

that  make  up  the  story  of  the  Troops  of 

Discontent  and  the  Soldiers  of  Immaturity  we  must  look  for 

the  cause  to  the  very  composition  and  methods  of  the  Americans 

themselves. 

The  Revolution  was  over.  A  land,  wasted  by  seven  years 
of  war,  demanded  immediate  attention  or  the  work  of  years  of 
preparation  would  be  lost.  Beyond  the  battle-scarred  land  lay 
the  wildernesses  of  the  vaster  West.  They  were  full  of 
promise,  fertile  of  hope,  and  called  for  men  to  conquer,  to  settle 
and  to  develop  them. 

To  all  such  home-builders  further  strife  was  repugnant. 
The  political  sky,  too,  was  so  clouded,  so  full  of  warring  ele- 
ments, so  dark  with  uncertainties  that,  to  the  majority  of  the 


ANT  1 1  UN  Y     \VAYNK. 


I4o  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

people,  the  army  was  an  unpleasant  and  unprofitable  national 
incubus,  the  life  of  the  soldier  was  deemed  as  but  the  last  resort 
of  the  shiftless,  the  drone  or  the  outcast. 

And  yet,  notwithstanding  the  popular  objections  to  a  stand- 
ing army,  Congress  managed  to  have  under  its  control,  even 
from  the  very  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  at  least  the  shadow 
of  such  an  army. 

The  War  Department  of  the  United  States  was  organized 
on  the  seventh  of  August,  1789,  with  General  Knox  as  the  first 
Secretary  of  War.  He  found  a  standing  force  of  six  hundred 
and  seventy-two  available  men  as  the  "  bulwark  "  of  the  new 
nation  —  a  weak  enough  bulwark  for  so  undefended  a  land! 

O 

From  the  date  of  the  organization  of  the  Department  to  the 
War  of  1812  the  Secretaries  of  War  were,  respectively:  Henry 
Knox,  Timothy  Pickering,  James  Me  Henry,  Samuel  Dexter, 
Roger  Griswold,  Henry  Dearborn  and  William  Eustis.  Of 
these,  all  except  Dexter  were  veterans  of  the  Revolution,  but 
the  incoherencies,  the  frail  finances  and,  above  all,  the  national 
animosity  to  a  standing  army  gave  our  first  Secretaries  little  in 
the  way  of  material  and  much  in  the  way  of  worry. 

As  Indian  wars  and  international  disputes  warranted  an 
increasing  force  the  troops  of  the  United  States  grew  from  the 
paltry  seven  hundred  of  1789  to  somewhat  more  respectable 
proportions.  In  1792  this  force  was  increased  to  5120  men,  in 
1794  it  fell  to  3629;  it  rose  to  5144  in  1804,  dropped  to  3278  in 
1807,  and,  in  1810,  footed  up  7154.  Between  these  years,  too, 
its  generals-in-chief  were  of  an  equally  shifting  character. 
Washington  was  succeeded  by  Knox  in  1783,  Knox  by  Mannar 
in  1788,  Harmar  by  St.  Clair  in  1791,  St.  Clair  by  Wayne  in 
1792,  Wayne  by  Wilkinson  in  1796,  Wilkinson  by  Washington 
in  1798  and  Washington  again  by  Wilkinson  in  1800. 


THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT.  141 

Washington's  term  as  Lieutenant-General  began  on  the  third 
of  July,  1798,  just  twenty-two  years  to  a  day  after  his  assuming 
command  of  the  Revolutionary  troops  on  the  commons  of 
Cambridge.  It  was  his  last  service  to  the  American  people  and 
was  the  result  of  the  popular  war-wave  that  swept  the  land 
when,  in  1/98,  the  insults  of  France,  steeped  in  the  fanatical 
fury  of  a  righteous  revolution  unrighteously  upheld,  almost 
drove  the  former  allies  into  war. 

Throughout  the  States  the  black  cockade  was  the  symbol 
of  patriotism  ;  the  old  fervor  of  the  fighting  days  returned  and 
the  doggerel  of  the  time,  sung  and  whistled  in  every  town,  gave 
the  key  note  of  determination  : 

"  Americans  then  fly  to  arms, 

And  learn  the  way  to  use  'em ; 
If  each  man  fight  to  'fend  his  rights 

The  French  can't  long  abuse  *em." 

The  war  fever  grew.  Line-of-battle  ships  sprang  from 
hastily-laid  stocks.  Along  the  Atlantic  coast  forts  were  traced 
out,  built  or  strengthened.  Volunteers  rushed  to  the  militia 
recruiting  offices  and,  as  the  citizen  soldiers  of  America  pledged 
themselves  anew  to  the  defense  of  the  land  they  loved,  they 
shouted  huzza !  and  yet  again  huzza  !  to  the  most  popular  of  all 
the  toasts  and  sentiments  of  the  day:  "  Millions  for  defense  but 
not  one  cent  for  tribute  !  " 

But  neither  defense  nor  tribute  became  necessary.  Napo- 
leon the  Shrewd  as  well  as  the  Great,  recognized  the  unwisdom 
of  making  another  foe  in  the  "nation  of  debaters  "  across  the 
western  sea.  France  recalled  her  hasty  words  and  stopped 
her  hostile  ways.  The  allies  of  old  became  friends  once  more 
and  the  army  of  the  United  States  was  reduced  to  a  peace  foot- 


I42  THE    TROOPS   OF  DISCONTENT. 

in<y.  The  militia  regiments  dwindled  away;  muster  days  lost 
their  dramatic  expectancies  and  not  until  1812,  when  the  old 
antagonist,  Britain,  sought  to  force  brutality  into  battle  and 
contempt  into  conflict  was  there  need  or  call  for  the  active 
services  of  the  American  Soldier. 

And  as  the  century  died  there  died  with  it  the  great  soldier 
who  had  by  his  wisdom,  his  strategy  and  his  indomitable  will 
led  the  way  along  which  the  thirteen  colonies  marched  into  free- 
dom. In  1799  Washington  died — the  leading  historic  figure 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  soldier  who  first  in  war  was  also 
the  statesman  first  in  peace  and  has  ever  since  been  the  ideal 
patriot,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


A     I.  E  A  D  E  R  L  E  S  S     WAR. 

HERE  stood,  in  the  year  1812,  in 
that  far  Northwest  where  the 
waters  of  three  great  inland  seas 
unite  for  their  onward  course  to 
the  distant  ocean,  a  solitary  out- 
post garrisoned  by  the  soldiers 
of  the  United  States  —  the  fort 
on  Mackinaw.  A  small  but  im- 
portant post,  the  country  that  it 
defended  had  been  for  generations 

the  scene  of  contest.  Here  French  and  Indians,  here  English 
and  French,  here  Americans  and  Englishmen  had  warred  for 
the  possession  of  the  western  water-ways  into  Lakes  Michigan 
and  Superior.  Finally  delivered  up  by  the  British  in  1795  it 
was,  in  this  month  of  July,  1812,  held  by  a  little  garrison  of 
fifty-seven  American  soldiers  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Hanks. 

Remote  from  civilization,  surrounded  only  by  the  waters 
and  forests  of  the  vast  Northwest,  this  slender  band  of  defenders 
heard  but  little  from  the  world  without  and  still  less  from  their 
official  superiors  —  the  dilatory  War  Department  at  Washington. 
Forty  miles  to  the  northeast,  upon  St.  Joseph's  Island  in  the 

'43 


I44  A    LEADERLESS    WAR. 

Sault  St.  Marie,  stood  the  nearest  English  post,  garrisoned  by 
a  small  detachment  of  British  regulars  under  command  of 
Captain  Roberts. 

On  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth  of  July,  1812,  Lieuten- 
ant Hanks,  looking  out  from  his  quarters,  was  surprised  to  see 
no  sio-ns  of  life  in  the  little  fur-trading  settlement  that  had 

o 

sprung  up  below  the  American  post.  Sending  out  to  ascertain 
the  cause  he  was  astounded  to  learn  that,  during  the  preceding 
night,  a  force  of  more  than  a  thousand  men -- British,  Cana- 
dians and  Indians  —  had  been  led  from  the  British  fort  above 
against  the  American  post.  But  still  more  astounded  was  he 
when  he  learned  that  war  had  actually  been  declared  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  and  that  a  British  officer 
waited  below,  flag  in  hand,  as  a  messenger  from  Captain  Roberts, 
demanding  the  surrender  of  Fort  Mackinaw. 

Resistance  was  impossible.  Dazed,  overawed  and  entirely 
unprepared  for  defense  Lieutenant  Hanks  had  no  alternative 
but  to  surrender.  With  a  negligence  that  was  as  stupid  as  it 
was  unpardonable  the  War  Department  at  Washington  delayed 
sending  to  the  posts  on  the  Western  frontier  any  notification  of 
the  declaration  of  war.  The  British  authorities  had  been  quick 
to  act.  And  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  an  important  military 
post  among  the  great  lakes  fell  without  a  blow  to  the  alert  and 
better-informed  soldiers  of  England. 

This  disaster  at  Mackinaw  was  but  an  index  to  the  conduct 
of  what  is  known  in  the  history  of  America  as  the  War  of  1812. 

J 

Negligence,  delay,  "  a  miserly  economy  "  and  an  utter  lack  of 
trained  troops  impeded  the  American  operations  from  the  very 
outset.  Forts  were  surrendered,  important  posts  abandoned, 
battles  lost  and  plans  of  invasion  disastrously  brought  to  naught 
by  the  utter  lack  of  competent  leaders  and  the  timid  and 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  145 

wavering  ways  of  those  in  authority  at  Washington.  "  History," 
says  Mr.  Roosevelt,  "  has  not  yet  done  justice  to  the  ludicrous 
and  painful  folly  and  stupidity  of  which  the  government  founded 
by  Jefferson  and  carried  on  by  Madison  was  guilty,  both  in  its 
preparation  for  and  in  its  way  of  carrying  on  this  war;  nor  is  it 
yet  realized  that  the  men  just  mentioned  and  their  associates 
are  primarily  responsible  for  the  loss  we  suffered  in  it  and  the 
bitter  humiliation  some  of  its  incidents  caused  us." 

It  has  for  years  been  with  too  many  Americans  the  fashion 
to  speak  of  the  War  of  1812  as  a  successful  resistance  of  the 
arms  of  England  by  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States. 
Of  the  navy  this  may  have  been  true ;  but  so  far  as  the  army 
was  concerned  its  part  in  the  second  war  with  England  was 
very  far  from  being  a  glorious  round  of  successes.  This,  a 
study  of  the  records  will  only  too  plainly  show.  The  land 
operations  of  the  War  of  1812  are,  as  one  writer  has  declared, 
"  neither  cheerful  reading  for  an  American  nor  interesting  to 
a  military  student."  Almost  the  only  bright  spot  in  the  long 
catalogue  of  disaster  was  the  dramatic  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
won  by  a  general  who,  up  to  that  time,  had  scarcely  been 
esteemed  a  leader  and  fought  after  peace  had  been  declared  — 
a  needless  battle  and  a  useless  victory. 

.  Self-inspection  is  one  of  the  best  remedies  for  a  tendency 
to  boasting  and  vainglory.  Let  us  hastily  glance  at  the  facts. 
Quickly  following  the  fall  of  Fort  Mackinaw  came  the  failure 
of  Hull's  campaign  on  the  Michigan  frontier,  the  defeat  of  Van 
Home  by  Tecumthe  and  his  Indians,  the  cruel  massacre  at 
Fort  Dearborn,  now  Chicago,  and  the  cowardly  surrender  of 
Detroit.  The  invasion  of  Canada  by  Van  Rensselaer  ended 
with  the  defeat  of  the  Americans  at  Queenstown  and  the 
astounding  refusal  of  the  American  militia-men  to  cross  to  the 


146  A   LEADERLESS    WAR. 

succor  of  their  countrymen.  The  failure  of  the  ridiculous  and 
vaporizing  Smythe  in  a  second  invasion  of  Canada  was  in  no 
deo-ree  lightened  by  the  successful  defense  at  Ogdensburg, 

&  S  J 

where  one  thousand  Americans  succeeded  in  driving  off  four 
hundred  British  besiegers  ;  for,  early  in  the  next  year  of  the 
war  (1813),  Ogdensburg  fell. 

Winchester's  terrible  defeat  on  the  river  Raisin  and  the 
bloody  massacre  of  his  troops  by  the  inhuman  Proctor  was 
scarcely  retrieved  by  the  defense  of  Fort  Meigs  and  the  brave 
stand  of  Croghan  at  Fort  Stephenson.  Harrison's  invasion  of 
Canada  did  lead  to  a  victory  on  the  Thames  where  thirty-five 
hundred  Americans  routed  an  inferior  force  of  sixteen  hundred 
British  and  Indians  and  ended  in  the  death  of  the  heroic 
Tecumthe  ;  but  the  capture  of  Fort  George  by  the  Americans 
was,  soon  after,  altogether  neutralized  by  the  spiritless  and 
unnecessary  surrender  of  the  fort  to  the  British.  Then  came 
the  utter  defeat  of  Chandler's  invasion  of  Canada,  the  capture 
of  Fort  Niagara  and  the  destruction  of  Buffalo,  and  the  total 
failure  of  still  another  invasion  of  Canada  led  on  by  that 
military  mountebank,  the  American  general  Wilkinson  —  a 
commander  whom  the  indignant  Scott  hotly  denounced  as  "an 
unprincipled  imbecile." 

The  army  of  Hampton  on  Lake  Champlain  seemed  scarcely 
to  dare  lift  a  gun  in  protest  while  British  invaders  plundered 
Plattsburgh  and  Burlington.  The  three  principal  engagements 

<-'  i  1  O      O 

of  the  year  1813  were  little  more  than  routs  of  incompetent 
troops  led  by  incapable  generals;  they  were  victories  for 
England  when  they  should  easily  have  been,  instead,  victorious 
engagements  won  by  superior  forces  of  Americans. 

Indeed,  the  opening  years  of  this  War  of  1812  were  neither 
honorable  to  the  American  soldier  nor  helpful  to  the  American 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  147 

cause.  For  twelve  years  the  war  had  been  plainly  foreseen. 
England's  tyrannical  encroachments  upon  American  commerce, 
her  contemptuous  disregard  of  treaty  stipulations  and  the  rights 
of  American  seamen,  her  endeavors  to  antagonize  and  inflame 
the  Indians  within  American  territory  and  her  unwarranted 


AT   WORK   ON    THE    FOR TIKICA T1ONS    IN     l8l2. 

trespassing  upon  the  Western  frontier  had  gradually  forced 
America  into  armed  resistance.  And  yet  for  this  resistance  no 
suitable  preparation  had  been  made  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States. 

It  is  true  that  a  slight  increase  had  been  made  in  the  number 


J48  A   LEADER  LESS    WAR. 

and  strength  of  the  regular  army.  By  an  act  of  Congress  in 
1808  five  regiments  of  infantry,  one  of  riflemen  and  one  each 
of  lio-ht  artillery  and  light  dragoons  had  been  added  to  the 
army.  This  increased  the  force,  by  the  year  1810,  to  nearly 
eight  thousand  men. 

O 

But  popular  approval  did  not  go  out  kindly  to  such  a 
strengthening  of  the  army  ;  even  its  slow  development  therefore 

^5  ^5  J 

was  almost  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  majority.  With  the 
growth  of  the  war-fever,  however,  bombast  developed  into  action. 
When  the  news  of  war  came  to  the  ears  of  the  people  men  of 
all  classes  awoke  to  their  need  for  action  and  hastened  to  offer 
their  services  or  to  bear  a  helping  hand  in  rearing  defenses  and 
strengthening  fortifications. 

This  sudden  haste  toward  national  defense  however  could 
not  make  up  for  the  lack  of  material  and  the  supineness  of  gov- 
ernment. President  Madison,  contrary  to  his  own  desires,  was 
forced  into  war;  but  the  politicians  who  had  brought  about  the 
conflict  had  been  so  lax  in  military  preparations  that,  as  Pro- 
fessor Soley  says,  "  while  securing  a  political  victory  they  pre- 
pared the  way  for  a  series  of  military  defeats." 

How  discouraging  were  these  defeats  during  the  opening 
years  of  the  war  we  have  already  seen.  And  indeed  it  does 
seem  almost  incredible  that  a  strong  and  vigorous  people, 
angered  over  the  invasion  of  their  rights  upon  the  seas  and 
battling  for  the  possession  of  those  Western  frontiers  which 
they  desired  to  secure  as  their  children's  inheritance,  should 
lack  either  the  warlike  spirit  or  the  warrior's  valor.  It  is  for 
us  to  remember,  however,  that  it  was  not  so  much  the  lack  of 
these  fighting  qualities  as  the  absolute  dearth  of  leaders  that 
made  the  land  operations  of  the  American  Soldier  during  the 
War  of  1812  so  sorry  a  page  in  American  history. 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  149 

The  fighting  strength  of  the  nation  just  previous  to  the 
declaration  of  war  was  estimated  in  the  militia  returns  of  the 
States  as  very  close  upon  seven  hundred  thousand  men. 
Estimates  however  are  not  always  a  safe  foundation.  Numbers 
are  often  as  shrinking  as  are  the  volunteers  themselves  when 
the  bugles  sound  for  action.  The  main  dependence  of  a  nation 
in  the  early  stages  of  any  war  must  rest  rather  upon  well-fur- 
nished officers  than  upon  the  long  muster-rolls  of  its  recruits. 
And  it  is  now  generally  conceded  that  the  Army  of  the  United 
States  entered  upon  the  second  war  with  England  "  with  few 
officers  of  professional  training  or  traditions."  The  generals 
to  whom  commands  were  at  first  assigned  were  but  superanu- 
ated  soldiers  who  had  outlived  the  fire,  as  they  had  the  days,  of 
the  distant  Revolution.  The  militia  too  were  crude  and 

unmanageable,  with  more  taste  for  discussing  the  questionable 

i 

plans  of  their  superiors  than  for  following  them. 

And  so,  with  raw  levies  unable  to  learn  with  sufficient  speed 
the  demands  of  military  life  and  discipline,  with  incompetent 
generals  who  had  either  outgrown  their  fighting  days  or  had 
not  enough  military  intelligence  to  drill  or  to  direct  their 
followers,  with  distracted  counsels  among  the  rulers  of  the 
nation  and  with  but  a  grudging  support  from  the  very  people 
who  talked  the  loudest  about  rights  and  privileges  the  United 
States  of  America  essaved  to  cross  swords  with  one  of  the  most 

> 

warlike  of  European  nations.  It  was  a  power  whose  soldiers 
had  faced  the  victorious  armies  of  the  great  Napoleon,  whose 
grenadiers  were  led  on  by  generals  schooled  to  the  ways  of  war 
in  the  wild  Mahratta  battles  of  India  or  in  the  more  momentous 
conflicts  that  had  checked  the  career  of  the  greatest  of  modern 
conquerors  in  the  stubborn  battles  of  the  Spanish  peninsula. 
1813  was  a  year  of  failure  for  the  American  arms.  1814 


ISo  A   LEADERLESS    WAR. 

was  but  little  better.  The  exigencies  of  a  losing  fight  were, 
however,  developing  certain  capable  commanders  in  the  ranks 
of  American  captains.  These  generals  indeed  did  not  rise  to 
the  position  of  real  leaders,  but  their  very  impatience  over  the 
disgrace  that  was  clouding  the  name  of  the  American  Soldier 

o-ave  them  so  much  determination  that  their  earnest  examples 
& 

and  their  tireless  efforts  began  at  last  to  infuse  something  like 
discipline  and  effectiveness  into  the  wavering  ranks  of  an 
undisciplined  army. 

In  the  swamps  and  morasses  of  the  distant  South  the  sturdy 
and  unyielding  Jackson  was  learning  in  the  savage  school  of 
Indian  warfare  that  untiring  vigilance  and  sleepless  energy  that 
were  to  work  such  terrible  results  upon  the  veteran  troops 
of  England  in  the  opening  clays  of  1815.  The  victory  of 
Tohopeka,  by  which  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  January,  1814, 
General  Andrew  Jackson,  after  a  furious  fight  of  more  than 
five  hours,  broke  forever  the  power  of  the  Creek  Confederacy, 
found  its  still  create r  results  in  the  more  ojorious  but  utterly 

C3  *_>  J 

needless  victory  at  New  Orleans.  In  the  north,  upon  the 
Canadian  frontier,  the  patience  and  persistence  of  Winfield 
Scott  imparted  a  steadiness  and  efficiency  to  those  uncertain 
volunteers  who  had  rallied  to  the  defense  of  the  northern 
border.  The  ludicrous  failure  of  Wilkinson  with  which  the  cam- 
paign of  1814  had  opened  was  fully  retrieved  by  the  gallantry  of 
Scott's  brigade  at  Chippe.vay  and  the  obstinate  courage  of  that 
same  band  of  fighters  at  Lundy's  Lane.  And  yet  neither 
Chippeway  nor  Lundy's  Lane  can  rightfully  be  claimed  as 
American  victories.  They  were  simply  not  American  defeats; 
and  it  is  the  chief  glory  of  both  these  savage  actions  that  they 
showed  the  spirit  that  really  slumbered  in  American  fighting 
men  and  by  their  obstinacy  changed  British  contempt  into 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  i5I 

British  caution.  Even  William  James,  most  prejudiced  of  all 
the  English  chroniclers  of  this  war  with  America,  is  forced  to 
admit  that,  "upon  the  whole,  the  American  troops  fought 
bravely ;  and  the  conduct  of  many  of  the  officers  would  have 
done  honor  to  any  service." 

And  yet  that  same  year  of  1814  saw  the  glory  of  American 
endeavor  at  Chippevvay  and  Lundy's  Lane  clouded  by  the  shame 
of  American  feebleness  on  the  Chesapeake.  No  page  in  Ameri- 
can history  is  more  disgraceful  than  that  which  tells  of  the 
invasion  of  Maryland  by  the  British  troops  and  how  a  small 
force  of  the  red-coated  enemy  put  to  flight  a  largely  superior 
force  of  Americans  at  Bladensburg,  set  the  whole  American 
government  in  hasty  and  undignified  retreat  from  the  American 
capital,  captured  Washington,  destroyed  the  public  buildings, 
scattered  the  Americans  by  a  vigorous  bayonet  charge  at  North 
Point  and  spread  terror  and  dismay  through  all  the  Chesapeake 
region. 

"  That  Americans,"  says  Professor  Soley,  "  when  properly 
led  could  make  as  good  fighting  material  as  any  other  people, 
had  been  shown  in  the  Revolution  and  was  still  more  forcibly 
shown,  later,  in  the  war  with  Mexico  and  in  the  Civil  War; 
but  in  1812-15  tneY  were  without  leaders.  With  the  exception 
of  Brown,  Jackson,  Scott,  Gaines,  Harrison,  Macomb,  and 
Ripley,  most  of  whom  were  at  first  in  subordinate  positions, 
there  were  few  general  officers  worthy  of  the  name  and  it 
required  only  the  simplest  strategic  movement  to  demonstrate 
their  incompetency."  "  The  British  regulars,"  says  Mr.  Roose- 
velt, "  trained  in  many  wars  thrashed  the  raw  troops  opposed 
to  them  whenever  they  had  anything  like  a  fair  chance.  Our 
defeats  were  exactly  such  as  any  man  might  have  foreseen 
and  there  is  nothing  to  be  learned  by  the  student  of  military 


IS2  A   LEADERLESS    WAR. 

matters  from  the  follies  committed  by  incompetent  com- 
manders and  untrained  troops  when  in  the  presence  of  skilled 
officers  having  under  them  disciplined  soldiers." 

It  is  a  truth  not  to  be  disguised  that  this  War  of  1812, 
which  from  the  outset  was  so  marred  by  "  the  humiliating 
surrenders,  abortive  attacks  and  panic  routs  "  of  the  land  forces 
of  the  Union,  was  turned  into  victory  and  success  by  the 
darins:  and  the  dash  of  the  American  Sailor. 

O 

But  this  is  the  darker  side  of  the  annals.  It  would  indeed 
be  a  disgraceful  stain  on  the  soldier's  record  of  American  valor  if 

O 

the  story  of  our  second  war  with  England  rested  here.  With 
a  brave  people,  out  of  defeat  springs  new  determination  ;  out 
of  humiliation,  heroism. 

It  is  this  regal  purpose  that  we  can  read  between  the  lines 
as  we  trace  that  record  of  disaster  by  land  and  of  victory  on 
the  sea.  The  story  of  the  land  operations  which  began  in  loss 
at  Mackinaw  and  ended  in  triumph  at  New  Orleans  is  an  ever- 
increasing  assurance  of  the  growing  valor,  persistence  and 
patriotism  of  the  American  Soldier.  Hampered  by  all  the 
restrictions  that  must  spring  from  a  weak  and  wavering  govern- 
ment, from  internal  dissensions  and  political  strifes,  from  raw 
and  unsteady  comrades  and  from  the  disheartening  incom- 
petency  of  generals  who  would  be  leaders  but  could  not,  the 
soldiers  of  the  United  States  learned  steadiness  from  disaster 
and  determination  from  disgrace,  and  gradually  developed 
into  seasoned  fighters  who  could  play  on  even  terms  with 
the  British  invaders. 

Thus,  step  by  step,  the  militia-man  became  the  veteran. 
The  gallantry  of  Croghan  and  his  weakened  garrison  at  Fort 
Stephenson.  the  irresistible  charge  of  the  mounted  riflemen  of 
Kentucky  who  broke  the  line  of  Proctor's  regulars  at  the 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  155 

battle  of  the  Thames  showed,  each  of  them,  that  even  thus 
early  in  the  war  the  old-time  American  valor  was  by  no  means 
a  forgotten  quantity. 

The  terrible  bayonet  charge  with  which  in  fair  fight  the 
valiant  fellows  of  Scott's  brigade  hurled  backward  in  flight  an 
equal  force  of  British  regulars  and  turned  the  day  at  Chippeway ; 
the  inspiring  valor  with  which  at  Lundy's  Lane  the  modest  but 
gallant  Miller  led  his  men  against  the  battery  on  the  hill  and 
carried  it  by  an  assault  that  was  as  full  of  danger  as  it  was 
of  bravery ;  the  equal  gallantry  with  which  Ripley  and  his 
comrades  held  that  same  captured  hill-top  against  three  des- 
perate assaults  by  the  enemy's  entire  force;  the  bold  and 
masterly  sortie  from  beleaguered  Fort  Erie,  by  which  General 
Gaines  scattered  the  British  besiegers,  saved  his  post  and, 
indeed,  the  whole  New  York  frontier  —  a  dash  which  for 
brilliancy,  so  one  author  asserts,  "  has  never  been  excelled  by 
any  event  in  the  same  scale  in  military  history' — these,  as  the 
war  progressed,  were  convincing  proofs  that  American  courage 
only  needed  opportunity  to  display  itself  even  upon  the  most 
uncertain  field. 

When  at  Lundy's  Lane  Colonel  James  Miller  was  ordered 
to  storm  and  capture  the  British  battery  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made  and  which,  crowning  a  hill-top,  was  really 
the  key  to  the  enemy's  position  he  made  but  the  simple  reply  : 
"I'll  try,  sir"  -and  took  it!  "If  success  attend  my  steps," 
wrote,  in  a  letter  to  his  father,  that  General  Pike  who  in  1813 
led  into  Canada  the  successful  invasion  that  cost  him  his  life, 
"  honor  and  glory  await  my  name  ;  if  defeat  still  shall  it  be  said 
that  we  died  like  brave  men  and  conferred  honor,  even  in  death, 
on  the  American  name."  "  We  demand  the  joint  use  with  you 
of  this  Lake  Ontario  as  a  public  highway,  or  you  shall  not 


i56  A    LEADERLESS    WAR. 

detach  your  troops,"  said  Colonel  Van  Rensselaer,  standing 
under  a  flag  of  truce  in  British  headquarters.  This  audacious 
demand  being  denied,  the  young  American  colonel  declared 
that  all  negotiations  for  an  armistice  were  at  an  end.  The 

o 

boldness  of  his  stand  angered  the  British  officers.  They  sprang 
to  their  feet  while  General  Sheaffe,  their  commander,  signifi- 
cantly placing  his  hand  on  his  sword-hilt  said  sternly,  "  Sir,  you 
take  hi^h  oround."  Nothing  daunted  by  this  hostile  attitude 

o         o  o  J 

of  his  enemies  Van  Rensselaer  as  quickly  clapped  hand  to  his 
own  sword-hilt  and  replied  "  I  do,  sir,  and  will  maintain  it ;  but 
you  dare  not  detach  the  troops/'  Such  pluck  found  recognition 
from  the  British  soldier;  he  begged  Van  Rensselaer's  pardon 
for  his  hastiness  and  agreed  to  the  joint  use  of  the  Lake.  On 
the  ninth  of  May,  1813,  there  came  a  lull  in  the  vigorous  bom- 
bardment of  Fort  Meigs.  Under  a  flag  of  truce  Major  Cham- 
bers representing  the  British  besiegers  was  introduced  into  the 
presence  of  General  Harrison,  the  commander  of  the  American 
post.  He  presented  a  demand  for  the  immediate  surrender  of 
the  fort.  "  Assure  General  Proctor,"  was  Harrison's  reply, 
"  that  he  will  never  have  this  post  surrendered  to  him  upon  any 
terms.  Should  it  fall  into  his  hands  it  will  be  in  a  manner 
calculated  to  do  him  more  honor  than  any  capitulation  could 
possibly  do."  So  pluckily  did  Harrison  keep  his  word  that  the 
"  butcher  of  Frenchtown  "  fell  back  baffled  and  defeated. 

The  spirit  that  lived  in  such  words  as  these  that  came  from 
the  lips  of  officers,  gradually  found  its  counterpart  in  the  sub- 
ordinates or  privates  who  fought  under  them.  The  younger 
officers  quickly  imbibed  this  growing  confidence  and  determi- 
nation. We  read  of  one  passage  of  arms  within  sound  of  the 
roar  of  Niagara  marked  for  especial  brilliancy  and  valor  in 
which  not  a  single  American  officer  en<ra<red  in  the  ficrht  was 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  157 

above  the  rank  of  captain.  It  was  here  that  young  Captain 
Wool  —  destined  to  become  in  years  after  a  grizzled  veteran  in 
the  Mexican  War  —  already  sorely  wounded  but  still  eager  for 
action,  under  a  killing  fire  from  the  enemy  charged  up  the  hill 
at  Fort  George  and  won  the  heights  of  Lewiston.  It  was  this 
same  brave  young  fellow  of  twenty-four  who  later  in  the  day 
when  a  less  daring  brother  officer  would  have  displayed  the 
flag  of  surrender  indignantly  snatched  the  fluttering  handker- 
chief from  the  bayonet  point  and  cheered  on  his  men  to  such  a 
desperate  bayonet  charge  that  the  enemy  broke  before  his 
impetuosity  while  the  Forty-Ninth  Grenadiers,  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  British  regiments,  turned  and  fled  in  dismay. 
The  "  I'll  try,  sir!  "  of  Miller  at  Lundy's  Lane  was  a  text  upon 
which  thereafter  many  a  dashing  officer  and  many  a  valiant 
private  preached  by  his  acts  a  stirring  sermon  on  American 
valor. 

Notwithstanding  the  lack  of  example  in  the  higher  officers 
in  this  leaderless  war  the  records  of  the  privates  who  fought 
through  it  are  by  no  means  barren  of  pluck  and  heroism.  It  is 
said  that  when  Winchester  surrendered  his  command  to  the 
British  butcher  Proctor  many  of  the  soldiers  declared  that  they 
would  not  submit  to  the  terms.  They  had  come  there  to  fight 
the  British  and  fight  they  would.  They  plead  with  their  officers 
to  stand  firm ;  some  even  wept  tears  of  disgrace  and  mortifica- 
tion and  declared  they  would  rather  die  on  the  field.  When 
ordered  finally  to  lay  down  their  arms  in  surrender  they  threw 
them  upon  the  ground  with  such  rage  and  indignation  as  to 
shiver  the  stocks  from  the  barrels  and  they  declared  to  the 
British  soldiers  that  their  general  had  sold  out  "  the  greatest 
set  of  game-cocks  that  ever  came  from  old  Kentuck." 

At  the  time  of  the  disastrous   British  attack  on  Washing- 


'58 


A   LEADEKLESS    WAR. 


ton  and  the  surrounding  country  in  1814  Private  John  O'Neil 
was  the  only  faithful  militia-man  in  the  "  Potato  Battery  "  at 
Havre  de  Grace.  When  all  his  comrades  had  fled  he  sturdily 
stuck  to  his  guns  while  fifteen  British  barges  pounded  away  at 
the  little  fort.  While  the  grapeshot  flew  thickest  about  him 


PACKENHAM'S  CHARGE  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  NK\V  ORLEANS. 

he  coolly  loaded,  served  and  fired  the  nine-pounder  mounted  on 
the  battery  and  then,  being  wounded  by  the  recoil,  retreated  to 
a  nail  factory  where  he  kept  up  the  fight  until  his  powder  was 
exhausted.  Wounded  and  without  ammunition  then  onlv  did 

./ 

he  admit  himself  defeated  and  surrender  himself  and  his  two 
empty  muskets  to  a  British  officer. 


A    LEADERLESS    WAR.  159 

On  the  eve  of  battle  near  Fort  Wayne,  General  Harrison 
read  to  the  volunteers  under  his  command  some  of  the 
regulations  and  restrictions  that  were  made  necessary  by  the 
articles  of  war.  He  then  declared  that  if  any  among  the 
volunteers  did  not  feel  willing  to  submit  to  such  restrictions 
they  might  return  home.  Only  one  man  availed  himself  of 
this  offer.  Thereupon  several  of  his  acquaintances,  receiving 
permission  to  escort  him  out  of  the  camp,  mounted  him  upon  a 
rail,  carried  him  to  the  river  and  there  ruthlessly  ducked  him 
again  and  again  in  order  as  they  said  "  to  wash  away  all  his 
patriotism." 

At  the  battle  of  Frenchtown  Major  Graves,  gallantly  leading 
his  men  against  an  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy,  fell  with 
a  shot  in  his  knee.  Still  cheering  on  his  men  he  cried  out, 
41  Boys,  I  am  wounded ;  never  mind  me,  but  fight  on." 

At  the  capture  of  Fort  George,  Hindman  a  Maryland 
captain,  belying  the  suggestion  of  his  name,  was  almost  the 
first  man  in  the  fort.  Hearing  a  rumor  that  the  enemy  were 
to  blow  up  the  works  rather  than  let  them  pass  into  American 
hands  Hindman  at  the  sword's  point,  compelled  a  British  ser- 
geant to  lead  him  to  the  magazine.  Careless  of  personal  danger 
he  snatched  away  the  rapidly  burning  fuse  that  was  fast  ap- 
proaching the  powder  and  thus  saved  the  fort  and  his  comrades. 

Instances  of  personal  valor  such  as  these  could  be  multiplied 
in  proof  of  the  assertion  that  while  this  leaderless  War  of  1812 
was  deficient  in  the  brilliant  enterprises  and  dashing  achieve- 
ments that,  more  than  all  else,  give  to  war  its  romance  and 
its  glitter,  there  still  lived  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  that 
individual  bravery  and  dauntless  courage  without  which,  when 
pushed  to  the  wall  by  its  foes,  a  nation  cannot  hope  for 
success. 


l6o  A   LEADERLESS    WAR. 

Militia-men  might  hesitate,  waver  and  run  away;  regulars 
might  fail  when  most  they  should  have  been  relied  upon; 
commanders  might  blunder,  wrangle  and  even  show  the  white 
feather,  but  the  valor  of  one  man  can  often  save  a  host  from 
disgrace ;  the  desperation  of  a  forlorn  hope  outlives  the  cowardice 

of  an  army. 

So  through  the  war,  marked  as  it  was  with  records  of 
American  imbecility  and  British  inhumanity,  the  development 
of  the  national  courage  went  slowly  forward.  Out  of  unsteadi- 
ness grew  discipline,  out  of  foolish  boastings  came  stern  deter- 
mination, out  of  faintheartedness  sprang  valor.  The  irrespon- 
sible State  detachments,  amenable  to  their  own  officers,  jealous 
of  the  regulars  and  of  the  war-department  officers,  gradually 
merged  their  personalities  and  their  local  names  of  "  Fusileers," 
"  Hussars,"  and  "  Rifles  "  into  the  broader  title  of  American 
Soldiers  and  proved,  in  such  fights  as  Chippeway,  their  right  to 
the  name  of  warriors  and  in  such  engagements  as  New  Orleans 
their  appreciation  of  what  that  name  really  meant. 

"  We  have  now  got  an  enemy  who  fights  as  bravely  as  our- 
selves," wrote  an  English  officer  after  the  battle  of  Chippeway. 
"They  have  now  proved  to  us  that  they  only  wanted  to  acquire 
a  little  discipline;  they  have  now  proved  to  us  what  they  are 
made  of;  and  they  are  the  same  sort  of  men  as  those  who  cap- 
tured whple  armies  under  Burgoyne  and  Corn  wall  is  ;  they  are 
neither  to  be  frightened  nor  to  be  silenced." 

The  great  battle  of  the  war  was  unquestionably  the  action 
at  New  Orleans.  Had  but  the  ocean  cable  then  spanned  the 
Atlantic,  like  a  living  cord  uniting  the  nations,  the  news  of 
peace  flashed  beneath  the  waters  would  have  rendered  New 
Orleans  unnecessary.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  would  have 
withheld  from  the  crest  of  the  American  soldier  one  of  his 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  161 

most  proudly-worn  trophies ;  it  would  have  taken  from  the 
hereditary  taunt  of  the  hater  of  England  its  severest  sting. 
Bloody  and  unnecessary  though  it  was,  it  stands  in  history  as 
so  notable  a  monument  to  the  skill  of  a  great  commander  and 
the  valor  of  a  volunteer  army  that  it  finds  fitting  mention  in 
the  story  of  the  American  Soldier. 

As  first  looked  at  this  battle  of  New  Orleans  seems  full  of 
inconsistencies.  Ten  thousand  British  regulars,  the  bravest 
and  most  hardy  of  the  veteran  fighters  of  Wellington's  Penin- 
sular Army,  with  a  record  of  six  years  of  uninterrupted  success, 
were  to  face  in  fight  less  than  five  thousand  soldiers  drawn  from 
the  fighting  stock  of  a  nation  deficient  at  that  time  in  all  the 
elements  that  constitute  successful  warfare.  To  be  sure  the 
undisciplined  five  thousand  were  shielded  behind  mud-breast- 
works ;  but  what  was  that  to  the  valiant  warriors  who  had 
stormed  the  fortifications  at  Toulouse,  and  Badajos,  and  Ciudad 
Rodrigo?.  With  the  exception  of  Wellington  no  general 
officer  in  the  British  army  was  counted  the  equal  of  Sir  Edward 
Packenham.  Opposed  to  him  was  a  leader  unskilled  in  the 
science  of  war,  sadly  deficient  in  the  knowledge  of  tactics  and 
utterly  lacking  in  those  personal  qualifications  necessary  to 
what  is  known  as  the  courtesy  of  camps.  He  was  in  the  eyes 
of  the  brilliant  British  general  only  "  a  grizzled  old  bush-fighter 
whose  name  had  never  been  heard  of  outside  of  his  own 
swamps." 

But  it  is  the  unexpected  that  is  always  happening.  If 
Jackson  was  lacking  in  the  art  of  war  he  was  possessed  of  that 
higher  military  genius  that  rises  superior  to  science  and  to 
tactics.  His  conquest  of  the  warlike  Indian  tribes  of  the  South 
had  taught  him  a  wariness  that  could  never  know  surprise,  an 
energy  that  was  tireless,  and  a  courage  that  was  as  unfaltering 


1 62  A    LEADERLESS    WAR. 

as  it  was  obstinate.  With  almost  no  support  from  the  demor- 
alized national  government,  drawing  his  soldiery  (with  the 
exception  of  seven  hundred  regulars)  from  the  widely-scattered 
settlements  of  the  southern  border,  he  massed  his  men  behind 
a  low  line  of  mud-breastworks,  manned  his  guns  with  frontier 
fighters  who  were  sharp  of  eye  and  sure  of  aim  and  waited  for 
the  morning. 

It  was  the  eighth  of  January,  1815.  "At  last,"  says  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  "  the  sun  rose.  As  its  beams  struggled  through 
the  morning  mist  they  glinted  on  the  sharp  steel  bayonets  of 
the  English,  where  their  scarlet  ranks  were  drawn  up  in  battle 
array,  but  four  hundred  yards  from  the  American  breastworks. 
There  stood  the  matchless  infantry  of  the  island  king,  in  the 
pride  of  their  strength  and  the  splendor  of  their  martial  glory  ; 
and  as  the  haze  cleared  away  they  moved  forward,  in  stern 
silence,  broken  only  by  the  angry,  snarling  notes  of  the  brazen 
bugles.  At  once  the  American  artillery  leaped  into  furious 
life ;  and,  ready  and  quick,  the  more  numerous  cannon  of  the 
invaders  responded  from  their  hot,  feverish  lips.  Unshaken 
amid  the  tumult  of  that  iron  storm  the  heavy  red  column  moved 
steadily  on  toward  the  left  of  the  American  line,  where  the 
Tennesseeans  were  standing  in  motionless,  grim  expectancy. 
Three  fourths  of  the  open  space  was  crossed,  and  the  eager  sol- 
diers broke  into  a  run.  Then  a  fire  of  hell  smote  the  British 
column.  From  the  breastwork  in  front  of  them  the  white  smoke 
curled  thick  into  the  air,  as,  rank  after  rank,  the  wild  marksmen 
of  the  backwoods  rose  and  fired,  aiming  low  and  sure.  As 
stubble  is  withered  by  flame,  so  withered  the  British  column 
under  that  deadly  fire  ;  and,  aghast  at  the  slaughter,  the  reel- 
ing files  staggered  and  gave  back.  Packenham,  fit  captain  for 
his  valorous  host,  rode  to  the  front,  and  the  troops,  rallying 


A   LEADERLESS    WAR.  163 

round  him,  sprang  forward  with  ringing  cheers.  But  once 
again  the  pealing  rifle-blast  beat  in  their  faces ;  and  the  life  of 
their  dauntless  leader  went  out  before  its  scorching  and  fiery 
breath. 

"  With  him  fell  the  other  general  who  was  with  the 
column,  and  all  of  the  men  who  were  leading  it  on ;  and,  as  a 
last  resource,  Keane  brought  up  his  stalwart  Highlanders;  but 
in  vain  the  stubborn  mountaineers  rushed  on,  only  to  die  as 
their  comrades  had  died  before  them,  with  unconquerable  cour- 
age, facing  the  foe,  to  the  last.  Keane  himself  was  struck 
down ;  and  the  shattered  wrecks  of  the 
British  column,  quailing  before  certain 
destruction,  turned  and  sought  refuge 
beyond  reach  of  the  leaden  death  that  had 
overwhelmed  their  comrades. 

"  Nor  did  it  fare  better  with  the 
weaker  force  that  was  to  assail  the  right 
of  the  American  line.  This  was  led  by 
the  dashing  Colonel  Rennie,  who,  when 

ANDREW    JACKSON. 

the  confusion  caused  by  the  mam  attack 

was  at  its  height,  rushed  forward  with  impetuous  bravery  along 
the  river  bank.  With  headlong  fury  Rennie  flung  his  men  at 
the  breastworks  and,  gallantly  leading  them,  sword  in  hand, 
he,  and  all  around  him,  fell,  riddled  through  and  through  by 
the  balls  of  the  riflemen.  Brave  though  they  were,  the  British 
soldiers  could  not  stand  against  the  singing,  leaden  hail,  or  if 
they  stood  it  was  but  to  die.  So  in  rout  and  wild  dismay  they 
fled  back  along  the  river  bank,  to  the  main  army." 

"  By  eight  o'clock,"  says  Mr.  Thompson,  "  the  harvest  was 
over;  the  red  field  of  the  eighth  of  January  had  been  mowed. 
In  front  of  Humphrey's  batteries  stretched  the  tangled  wind- 


,64  A   LEADERLESS    WAR. 

rows  of  mangled  dead  ;  prone  beneath  the  deadly  riflemen  of 
Beale's  little  command  the  red-coats  lay  in  heaps ;  the  swaths 
cut  down  by  Carrol  and  Adair  were  horrible  to  see.  What 
slaughter;  what  a  victory !  Over  two  thousand  British  lay 
dead  or  helpless  on  the  field.  And  what  of  Jackson's  little 
army?  How  many  killed?  Just  eight  men!  How  many 
wounded  ?  Thirteen  men,  and  no  more  !  " 

It  was  a  victory  as  complete  as  it  was  surprising.  But 
while  the  Creoles  of  New  Orleans  fought  with  a  valor  all  the 
more  desperate  because  they  were  defending  their  homes  from 
pillage,  while  the  rifles  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  spread  a 
havoc  that  was  as  certain  as  it  was  terrible,  while  the  pirates  of 
Barataria  and  the  sailor-volunteers  added  alike  picturesqueness 
and  ferocity  to  that  dim  fighting  in  a  fog  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  credit  of  the  victory  at  New  Orleans  mainly 
belongs  to  the  man  whose  foresight  planned  and  whose  courage 
effected  the  result  —  Andrew  Jackson,  the  general. 

It  was  a  brilliant  close  to  a  war  that  lacked  brilliancy.  It 
was  a  dramatic  ending  to  a  conflict  that,  upon  the  land  at  least, 
had,  for  the  most  part,  been  listless  and  tame  indeed  ;  it  was  the 
final  vindication,  in  an  era  when  such  a  setting  H  or  lit  seemed 

O  O 

almost  impossible,  of  the  pluck  and  the  bravery,  the  steadfast- 
ness and  the  valor  of  the  American  Soldier. 

Great  generals  rise  but  seldom  above  the  level  of  their 
troops.  Signal  victories,  attained  by  the  indomitable  will  of 
one  leader,  are  almost  exceptions  in  history.  Without  the  rank 
and  file  the  commander  would  be  less  than  a  unit.  But  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans  was  one  of  these  exceptions.  The 
genius  of  its  valiant  leader  rose  superior  to  all  obstacles. 

The  credit  for  the  one  victory  of  the  War  of  1812  rightly 
belongs  to  one  man  —  Andrew  Jackson  of  Tennessee  —  "  who," 


A   LEADERLESS    IV AR.  165 

once  more  to  quote  from  Mr.  Roosevelt's  summing-up  of  the 
fight,  "  with  his  cool  head  and  quick  eye,  his  stout  heart  and 
strong  hand,  stands  out  in  history  as  the  ablest  general  the 
United  States  produced  from  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution 
down  to  the  beginning  of  the  great  Rebellion."  The  leaderless 
war  was  closed  by  a  leader  indeed. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


WARS    AND    RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

HE  bells  of  1815  as  they  rang  out  the 
glad  tidings  of  peace  lulled  a  nation  to 
rest.  The  war  was  over.  The  people 
were  thankful.  The  good  ship  For- 
tune, sailing  into  New  York  harbor  on 

O 

the  eleventh  of  February  in  that  year 
of  peace  with  the  news  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  bore  precious  freight.  The 
rancors  of  divided  councils  were  settled 
and  a  distracted  land  set  to  work  to 
recover  as  speedily  as  possible  from  the 
loss  of  the  hundred  million  hard  dollars 
and  the  thirty  thousand  good  lives  that  the  war  had  cost. 

The  motley  militia-men  of  the  several  States  returned  to 
their  homes;  at  least  three  thousand  of  those  thirteen  thousand 
stiff  parade  hats  and  uncomfortable-looking  uniforms  that  had 
been  the  distino-uishino-  mark  of  the  regulars  of  1812  were  laid 

o  o  o 

aside  and  the  army  of    the   United   States  was   reduced   to  a 
peace  footing  of  less  than  ten  thousand  men. 

But  though  at  peace  with  the  outside  world  there  was  still 
call  for  musket  and  bayonet,  saber  and  spur.  The  feeble 
power  of  Spain  though  ever  so  feebly  defended  was  a  menace 

1 66 


WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR.  167 

to  the  growth  of  the  republic  in  the  south  and  west.  The 
constant  intrigues  of  intriguing  England  kept  alive  a  continual 
boundary  trouble  in  the  north.  Upon  the  fringe  of  forest  that 
marked  the  country's  vast  frontier  rested  the  ever-present  dread 
of  Indian  attack  and  ferocity.  It  behooved  the  nation  to  sleep 
on  its  arms. 

Scarcely  had  the  echoes  of  the  victorious  guns  at  Ne\v 
Orleans  died  away  when  trouble  broke  out  in  that  section  oi 
the  southern  land  known  as  East  Florida.  British  agents 
stirred  the  Indians  to  hostility  and  the  blacks  to  revolt, 
working  their  inhuman  schemes  in  the  Spanish  territory  that 
touched  the  American  border.  Here  first,  in  1816,  Colonel 
Clinch  took  the  field  against  the  half-breed  marauders  and 
with  a  picked  force  of  United  States  regulars  stormed  the 
combined  negro  and  Indian  stronghold  which  the  English 
had  established  on  the  Appalachicola  River;  but  trouble  stilt 
continued  and  was  only  brought  to  an  end  by  the  prompt 
energetic  and  decisive  measures  of  that  indomitable  Jackson 
whom  men,  for  his  toughness  and  his  integrity,  loved  to  call 
"  Old  Hickory." 

Spain's  power  was  weakening.  Across  the  boundary,  lured 
on  by  hope  of  booty,  there  swarmed  in  the  spring  of  1817  that 
motley  crowd  of  picturesque  adventurers  and  piratical  tramps 
self-styled  the  "Patriot  Army  of  the  Republics  of  New  Granada 
and  Venezuela."  With  a  name  that  meant  nothing  but  a  cover 
for  rascality,  as  lawless  as  they  were  irresponsible,  this  crowd 
of  old-time  "boomers"  burst  across  the  Spanish  borders  and 
forced  the  timorous  commandant  to  lower  the  flag  of  his  king 
before  their  insolent  demands. 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  unwilling  to  allow 
a  band  of  desperadoes  to  occupy,  lawfully  or  unlawfully,  by 


!68  'WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF    WAR. 

conquest  or  otherwise,  any  portion  of  the  land  that  should  be 
American  only,  sent  troops  into  Florida,  drove  out  the  ques- 
tionable "  Patriots  "  and  took  possession  of  the  country. 

Folio  wins:   this  came   the   Seminole   trouble  of    1818.     An 

O 

Indian  outbreak  that  scarcely  rose  above  the  dignity  of  a  savage 
foray  it  was  openly  fostered  by  British  influence  and  winked  at 
by  Spanish  incompetency. 

Then  it  was  that  Jackson  with  a  slender  army  of  invasion 
marched  against  the  Indians.  With  his  sharpshooters  and  his 
home-raised  militia  he  fell  upon  the  red-men,  burned  their  vil- 
lages, drove  them  into  the  swamps  and  morasses  of  the  lower 
peninsula,  captured  and  hung  the  British  agents  and  taking 
possession  of  the  last  Spanish  post  of  Pensacola  sent  the  gar- 
rison flying  across  the  water  to  Havana.  It  was  an  act  of 
usurpation  as  high-handed  as  it  was  patriotic.  But,  in  periods 
of  great  public  danger,  might  is  ever  esteemed  as  right,  and 

O  i  O  O  O 

Jackson's  energetic  measures  saved  the  southern  border  from 
pillage  and  made  Florida  forever  American. 

This  was  in  1818.  In  1821  Florida  passed  by  sale  and  treaty 
into  the  possession  of  the  United  States.  Once  an  American 
territory  settlement  grew.  The  American  settler  has  always 
been  restless  under  restrictions.  Seeking  to  conquer  the  forest 
and  the  plain  with  axe  and  plough,  he  has  always  held  as  an 
enemy  those  earlier  red  possessors  of  the  soil  to  whom  axe  and 
plough  have  ever  been  but  the  hated  instruments  of  the  white 
men's  hated  ways.  From  the  days  of  the  earliest  colonization 
this  hostility  has  burned  or  smouldered  according  to  opportunity 
and  every  acre  of  border  cultivation  has  been  won  only  in  the 
face  of  bitter  opposition  or  of  open  "  outrage  "  on  the  part  of 
the  Indian.  The  occupation  of  Florida  proved  no  exception  to 
the  rule.  Inch  by  inch  the  Indians  in  the  north  of  the  flowery 


WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR. 


169 


peninsula  were  pressed  into  the  swamps,  the  forests  and  the 
fastnesses  of  the  south.  Protest  led  to  recrimination  ;  to  this 
succeeded  open  hostilities.  In  1835  Indian  retaliation  broke 
out  into  warfare  and  a  United  States  military  force,  comprising 
fourteen  companies  of  regular  troops,  was  dispatched  against 


JACKSON'S  SHARPSHOOTERS. 

the  Florida  Indians.  Force  and  ferocity  met  face  to  face  and 
the  government  of  the  United  States  had  upon  its  hands  that 
series  of  battles  and  conflicts  known  to  history  as  the  Florida 
or  "Seminole  "  War. 

This  was  no  new  experience  either  to  government  or  army. 


I7o  WARS  AND  RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

Already  in  the  west  a  still  more  formidable  because  better 
organized  Indian  war  had  been  met,  grappled  with  and  forced 
to  a  successful  termination.  In  1827  the  Winnebagoes  of  Illi- 
nois had  risen  against  the  occupation  of  their  land  by  the  lead 
miners  of  Galena  and  joining  to  themselves  the  still  more  war- 
like Sioux  plunged  the  country  into  war.  The  miners  were 
formed  into  companies  and  equipped  for  action.  Illinois  volun- 
teers hurried  to  the  scene  of  trouble  and  six  hundred  United 
States  regulars  were  added  to  the  army.  The  Winnebago  War 
was  of  short  duration.  The  show  of  force  brought  by  the 
authorities  speedily  overawed  the  hostile  savages  and  the  poor 
Winnebagoes,  as  many  another  Indian  has  done,  before  and 
since,  abandoned  their  prairies  to  the  greedy  grasp  of  the  white 
man.  The  only  noble  figure  that  stands  out  against  the  back- 
ground of  this  little  war  cloud  is  that  of  the  noble  Sioux  chieftain 

o 

Red  Bird  who,  when  the  Winnebagoes  whom  he  had  incited  to 
hostility  were  pressed  into  defeat  by  the  victorious  white  men, 
offered  himself  as  the  voluntary  sacrifice  for  those  whom  he 
would  not  desert.  Robed  in  skins  and  bearing  a  white  flag,  he 
rode  into  the  United  States  camp  and  surrendered  himself  a 
voluntary  prisoner  with  the  spirit  of  one  who  though  conquered 
was  yet  a  conqueror.  To  the  shame  of  American  justice  it 
must  be  said  that  this  heroic  "savage"  was,  without  compunc- 
tion, thrown  into  prison  where  he  sickened  and  died  of  the 
humiliation  of  restraint. 

But  out  of  this  Winnebago  war  rose  speedily  the  greater 
and  much  more  serious  trouble  known  as  the  Black  Hawk  War. 
That  celebrated  Indian  patriot  known  to  the  white  men  as 
Black  Hawk,  the  chief  of  the  Sacs,  had  allied  himself  with  the 
Winnebagoes,  had  suffered  imprisonment  at  the  hands  of  the 
white  conquerors  and  was  filled  with  resentment  against 


ir.-l#S  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR.  171 

the  settlers  becausq  of  this  indignity  and  because  of  the  per- 
sistent encroachments  of  the  white  men  upon  the  lands  of  his 
tribe.  Removed  under  protest  to  the  region  beyond  the  Mis- 

* 

sissippi  he  chafed  under  this  action  and  as  soon  as  the  military 
were  withdrawn  he  returned  to  the  Illinois  country  with  a  band 
of  warriors  as  determined  as  was  he.  There  on  the  fourteenth 
of  May,  1832,  he  fell  upon  the  United  States  soldiers  on  Syca- 
more Creek  and  defeated  them  with  considerable  loss.  The 
settlers  flew  to  arms.  General  Winfield  Scott  was  assigned  to 
the  command  and  hastened  westward  with  one  thousand  regu- 
lars to  the  assistance  of  the  border  volunteers  who  had  taken 
the  field  against  the  redoubtable  Indian  chieftain.  The  war  of 
course  could  have  but  one  issue.  In  all  the  history  of  Indian 
warfare  in  America  the  final  victory  has  always  been  vouch- 
safed to  the  white  men ;  but  before  that  victorv  had  been 

j 

attained  the  conflict  had  known,  as  well  on  the  savage  as  on 
the  civilized  side,  many  an  instance  of  courage  and  valor,  of 
self-sacrifice  and  renown,  of  cruelty  and  cowardice.  Black 
Hawk  was  a  born  warrior.  A  Kentuckian  and  therefore  an 
Indian  hater,  in  his  story  of  the  action  of  Sycamore  Creek 
referred  to  above,  asserted  that  the  Indian  army  came  against 
them  not  in  the  old-style  skulking  way  of  the  savage  but  in 
solid  column,  deploying  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  upon  the 
borders  of  the  prairie  and  with  accuracy  and  precision  in  every 
movement.  It  must  be  said  of  this  same  Kentuckian  private 
that  perhaps  his  eyes  played  him  false  as  his  heart  certainly 
did,  for  when  the  battle  was  joined  he  became  a  sadly-demora- 
lized fighter.  As  the  Indian  attack  fell  upon  his  column  he 
confesses  that  he  made  a  retrograde  movement  and  remained 
some  time  meditating  what  further  he  could  do  in  the  service 
of  his  country.  "  Then  a  random  ball  came  whistling  by  my 


I72  WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR. 

ear  and  whispered  to  me :  '  Stranger,  you  have  no  further 
business  here.'  '  Upon  hearing  this,  he  confesses,  he  followed 
the  example  of  his  companions  in  arms  "  and  broke  for  the  tall 
timber,  and  the  way  I  ran  was  not  a  little." 

But  there  were  those  who  did  not  run.  The  war  was  prose- 
cuted with  firmness  and  energy  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  with  obstinacy  and  determination  by  Black  Hawk  and 
his  followers.  The  battle  of  the  Wisconsin  however  as  the 
first  decisive  battle  of  the  war  threw  the  advantage  and  the 
victory  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans.  The  battle  of  the 
Bad  Axe,  fought  on  the  second  of  August,  1832,  drove  the 
Indians  into  the  Mississippi  and  defeat. 

There  never  has  been  a  war  on  American  soil,  since  first 
the  republic  was  proclaimed,  that  did  not  exhibit  certain  phases 
of  that  never-ending  jealousy  that  has  always  seemed  to  exist 
between  the  regulars  and  the  militia.  Even  in  this  Black 
Hawk  War  —  a  local  disturbance  only  so  far  as  the  country  at 
large  was  concerned  —  the  success  of  the  Illinois  militia  under 
General  Henry,  u  the  hero  of  the  Wisconsin  "  as  his  own  peo- 
ple loved  to  call  him,  was  belittled  by  the  officers  of  the  regular 
army  and  overslaughed  by  Henry's  own  fellow  officers  who 
were  jealous  of  their  comrade's  brilliant  success.  Honor  to 
whom  honor  is  due  ;  and  even  at  this  late  day  it  would  seem 
but  a  slight  acknowledgment  of  duty  done  and  valor  displayed 
to  give  alike  the  credit  and  the  honor  of  the  Black  Hawk  Cam- 
paign to  the  volunteers  of  the  western  border  and  to  their 
energetic  commander  General  James  B.  Henry  whose  intre- 
pidity and  good  judgment  turned  defeat  into  victory  in  the 
battle  of  the  Wisconsin  and  ended  the  war  at  Bad  Axe. 

Although  General  Scott  did  not  actually  assume  command 
of  the  army  in  the  Black  Hawk  War  until  after  Henry  and 


WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR.  173 

Alexander  had  practically  closed  the  campaign,  the  trouble 
was  virtually  concluded  under  his  direction  and  when  the 
Seminole  trouble  in  Florida,  in  1835,  assumed  serious  propor- 
tions he  was  dispatched  to  the  front  by  the  War  Department 
with  a  considerable  and  well-organized  army.  It  was  largely 
under  his  direction  that  the  Florida  war  was  waged. 

From  the  start  this  war  was  fought  out  by  the  Indians  with 
divided  counsels.  It  sprang  originally  from  an  alleged  infraction 
of  treaty  and  leading  chiefs  of  the  Seminoles  were  still  inclined 
to  adhere  to  their  promises  as  made  under  the  treaty.  The 
Seminole  war  was  therefore  not  directly  due  to  the  leading 
Indians  but  was  fostered  and  kept  alive  by  the  unyielding 
hatred  and  persistence  of  one  man  —  Asseola  (mistakenly  called 
Osceola)  the  half-breed.  Compounded  of  many  diverse  ele- 
ments, with  a  character  that  was  in  many  respects  alien  to 
Indian  life  and  laws,  Asseola  added  to  the  obstinacy  of  the 
Scotchman  the  worst  traits  of  the  red-man,  and  the  Florida 
war  was  one  long  record  of  treacheries,  inhumanities,  surprises 
and  dogged  determination  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  explains 
how,  in  so  narrow  a  strip  of  country  as  is  the  Florida  peninsula, 
hostilities  could  be  kept  alive  for  nearly  seven  years. 

The  courage  of  the  soldiers  sent  to  the  war  by  the  settlers 
of  the  South  and  by  the  War  Department  was  high;  their 
desires  for  deeds  of  prowess  were  strong;  but  the  fight  was 
a  long  and  wasting  one  and  was  based  upon  the  customary 
Indian  tactics  of  predatory  forays,  ambush  and  secrecy.  The 
bravery  of  the  soldier  could  only  be  shown  in  his  continual 
wariness,  his  ability  to  ferret  out  the  hiding  foeman,  his  resort 
to  stratagem  and  decoy,  and  his  facing  the  Indian  obstinacy 
with  that  higher  persistence  and  determination  with  which 
intelligence  always  confronts  savagery. 


I74  WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF   WAR. 

From  1835  to  1842  the  war  dragged  on.  Gaines,  Scott, 
Call,  Jesup,  Taylor  and  Armistead  each,  in  turn,  succeeded  to 
the  general  command  or  were  superseded  in  it.  The  trouble 
was  finally  brought  to  a  close  after  the  expenditure  of  many 
lives  and  a  large  sum  of  money  by  that  dashing  soldier  whose 
valor  was  to  be  even  more  severely  tested  on  the  plains  of 
Mexico  —  General  Thomas  Worth.  He  succeeded  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  in  Florida  in  1841.  Conqueror  in  an  active 
campaign,  he  penetrated  into  the  inaccessible  swamps  and  fast- 
nesses where  the  Seminoles  had  taken  refuge,  forced  them  to 
a  final  surrender  and  to  a  removal  to  the  far  West.  Already 
in  1836  Asseola  the  half-breed  had  been  captured  by  stratagem 
and  fraud  and  thrown  into  prison  never  to  emerge  alive.  And 
thus  another  chapter  in  the  sad  story  of  the  hopelessness  of 
savage  patriotism  was  written  in  blood  and  loss. 

As  typical  of  the  Indian  determination  and  the  American 
persistence  which,  as  has  already  been  said,  joined  issue  in  this 
Seminole  War,  and  as  presenting  all  the  varying  phases 
of  surprise  and  strategy,  of  ferocity  and  revenge,  must  ever 
stand  the  terrible  story  of  that  heroic  defense  made  in  the 
swamps  of  the  Withlacoochee  by  Major  Dade  and  his  brave 
one  hundred. 

Ambushed  and  attacked  by  a  strong  party  of  savages  on  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  December,  1835,  while  chang- 
ing camp  north  of  the  Little  Withlacoochee  the  troops  quickly 
recovered  from  their  surprise  and  charged  the  hidden  foe. 
Beneath  the  thin  shadow  of  the  palmettoes  where  a  stretch  of 
hio-h  Southern  crass  almost  concealed  the  skulking  enemy  the 

<->  <_>  c.5  j 

combatants  met  and  fought  hand  to  hand.  Scalping  knife  and 
bayonet,  clubbed  musket  and  murderous  hatchet  clashed  in  the 
death  grapple  and  even  before  the  red-men  had  been  driven 


WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR.  I7S 

back,  Major  Dade  fell  dead.  His  successor  Captain  Gardiner 
at  once  proceeded  to  throw  up  a  slender  breastwork  which 
should  serve  as  a  slight  obstacle  to  the  assaults  of  the  Indians 
again  gathering  for  the  attack.  Before  the  feeble  defense  had 
risen  to  the  height  of  two  and  a  half  feet  the  Indians,  now 
largely  reinforced,  swarmed  down  upon  the  gallant  little  band. 
The  yells  of  the  savages  drowned  the  noise  of  the  muskets. 
In  large  numbers  they  surrounded  that  frail  breastwork  and 
shot  down  every  man  who  attempted  to  serve  the  one  gun  that 
was  its  sole  defense.  Officer  after  officer  was  killed.  At  last 
only  one  remained.  This  was  Lieutenant  Bassinger.  As  he 
saw  the  last  one  above  him  in  rank  fall  beneath  the  murderous 
fire  he  called  out  pluckily,  "  I'm  the  only  officer  left,  boys  ;  but 
we'll  all  do  the  best  we  can." 

Poor  fellows!  their  best  was  but  to  die  bravely.  And  that 
they  did.  A  fair  prototype  of  that  later  day  when  on  Western 
plains  the  brave  fellows  of  Custer's  command  went  down  to  a 
man,  so  now  the  forlorn  hope  of  the  gallant  Dade  stood  val- 
iantly to  their  work  and  the  fight  ended  only  when  life  and 
ammunition  gave  out  together.  Over  the  frail  inclosure  burst 
the  victorious  savages  but  there  were  no  defenders  left.  Every 
man  in  that  brave  little  company  save  one  who  managed  to 
escape  with  the  tidings  of  defeat,  lay  dead  or  dying  within  the 
space  of  their  defenses.  And  when  the  Indians  had  taken  their 
customary  toll  of  scalps  and  departed,  the  runaway  negroes 
who  had  sided  with  the  Indians  —  a  step  lower  down  in  savagery 
than  were  their  red  allies  —  completed  the  work  of  slaughter- 
ing the  defenseless  and  pillaging  the  dead.  But  no  indignity 
could  efface  the  glory  of  that  day's  heroism.  The  valor  of 
defeat  is  sometimes  more  deathless  than  is  the  jubilee  shout 
of  triumph. 


176  WARS  AND   RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

The  Black  Hawk  campaign  and  the  Seminole  War  were  the 
leading  military  events  of  that  era  of  national  peace  that 
bridged  the  years  between  the  treaty  of  Ghent  and  the  war  with 
Mexico.  And  yet  within  that  time  there  were  rumors  of  war 
forever  in  the  air,  there  were  internal  disturbances  that  kept 
the  War  Department  ever  on  the  alert. 

Most  serious  of  all  these  internal  dissensions,  in  its  possible 
results  (although  the  determined  stand  of  one  man  stamped 
sternly  out  the  incipient  revolt  which  his  over-sternness  had 
nearly  brought  about),  were  the  "  Nullification  Troubles  "  of 
1832  when  South  Carolina,  enraged  at  President  Jackson's 
position  upon  the  question  of  State  rights,  sought  to  nullify 
certain  customs  laws  passed  by  Congress  and  openly  defied  the 
power  of  the  United  States. 

The  same  stern  sense  of  duty,  the  same  inflexible  courage 
that  had  broken  the  Creek  confederacy  at  Horse  Shoe  Bend,  that 
had  hurled  back  the  army  of  Packenham  from  the  mud  breast- 
works before  New  Orleans  and  had  sent  the  Spaniards  flying 
from  Pensacola  aorain  asserted  themselves  and  could  find  in  the 

O 

defiant  position  of  a  hot-headed  Southern  State  only  a  greater 
incentive  to  patriotism,  only  the  demand  for  a  justice  that  must 
be  inexorable.  Andrew  Jackson  was  not  a  man  to  yield. 

"  By  the  Eternal  !  "  the  stout  old  soldier-president  declared 
in  one  of  his  favorite  explosives,  "  the  Union  must  and  shall 
be  preserved.  Send  for  General  Scott !  " 

Quick  to  respond  to  the  call  of  his  country  General  Scott 
came  and,  with  most  of  the  available  troops  of  the  United 
States  army,  he  was  hurried  at  once  to  the  city  of  Charleston, 
the  center  of  the  threatened  insurrection. 

But  though  the  military  of  the  State  was  duly  ordered  out 
to  repel  the  "  invaders  "  the  determined  stand  of  the  stout  old 


WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR.  177 

hero  of  New  Orleans  had  almost  instant  effect.  Defiance 
changed  to  compliance,  and  this  earliest  attempt  of  a  State  to 
revolt  against  the  nation  of  which  it  was  a  component  part 
was  itself  "  nullified  "  by  the  unyielding  patriotism  of  that 
nation's  chief  executive  and  by  the  bristling  bayonets  of  that 
nation's  regular  soldiery. 

The  country  v.ras  growing  rapidly.  A  ceaseless  flow  of 
immigration  was  changing  the  forests  into  farm  lands,  the 
prairies  into  pastures  and  wheat-fields.  But  growth  implies 
unrest  and  the  three  decades  between  1815  and  1845  were 
marked  with  vain  attempts  at  hostility  or  by  vague  rumors  of 
trouble  that  never  came.  East,  west  and  south  this  spirit 
of  unrest  repeatedly  appeared  and  the  ill  effects  of  intrigue 
in  politics  or  diplomacy  seemed  continually  to  threaten  a 
contest. 

Now  it  was  the  Mormons  who  were  reported  to  be  aiming 
to  subvert  the  institutions  and  the  religion  of  the  land.  Against 
them  the  people  protested  even  to  the  verge  of  open  assault 
and  both  the  destruction  of  Nauvoo  in  Illinois  and  the  anti- 
Mormon  riots  in  Missouri  called  for  the  service  of  the  soldiers 
of  those  States  to  scatter  the  militant  sect. 

Again  it  was  that  outbreak  of  1842  in  Rhode  Island  known 
as  Dorr's  Rebellion — a  protest  unjustly  derided,  the  real  his- 
tory of  which  is  yet  to  be  written  —  that  called  the  fighting 
men  to  arms  ;  or  it  was  that  serio-comic  "  invasion  of  Canada  " 
in  1839  when  seven  hundred  restless  New  Yorkers  led  by  a 
descendant  of  the  patroons  of  Rensselaer  offered  themselves 
as  allies  and  supporters  of  a  Canadian  revolt  against  England, 
and  the  troops  of  the  United  States  were  hurried  northward  to 
enforce  American  neutrality  and  protect  the  disturbed  frontiers. 
There  were  many  local  disturbances  such  as  the  "  Anti-rent 


178  WARS  AND   RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

war  "  in  New  York  and  the  "  Bank  mobs  "  in  Maryland  that 
demanded  the  service  of  the  military  arm  to  scatter  or  punish 
while  even  the  political  party  cry  of  the  presidential  campaign 
of  1844:  "fifty-four  forty  or  fight!"  -a  demand  for  north- 
western boundaries  that  threatened  a  third  war  with  England 
—  filled  the  land  with  anxiety  and  fired  the  hearts  of  those 
ambitious  for  military  glory. 

These  and  such  as  these,  however  serious,  however  ridicu- 
lous they  might  be,  created,  each,  a  certain  demand  for  resist- 
ance by  a  show  of  force  that  should  summon  either  the 
scattered  ranks  of  the  slender  regular  armv  or  the  uncertain 

O  J 

files  of  an  ail-too  uncertain  militia.  In  a  free  country  the 
citizen  is  not  inclined  to  do  anything  more  than  play  at  soldier 
until  a  real  and  stern  demand  calls  him  to  duty  and  often  to 
death. 

From  a  very  early  day,  however,  this  playing  at  soldier  has 
held  an  important  place  in  American  life.  As  early  as  1666 
the  colonial  laws  required  all  males  among  the  colonists  to 
attend  military  exercises  and  services.  Companies  were  exercised 
six  days  annually,  the  captain  opening  every  such  training 
with  prayer.  The  law  of  i  790  required  every  able-bodied  male 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five  to  meet  with  his 
military  company  four  times  each  year  for  training  and  dis- 
cipline and  the  United  States  law  of  1792  sought  to  establish 
a  general  militia  system  throughout  the  entire  country.  The 
Revolution  had  given  a  new  impetus  to  the  martial  spirit ;  the 
imbecilities  of  1812  gave  it  a  spasmodic  growth;  and  thus 
through  the  first  half  of  the  present  century  the  "general 
training"  and  the  muster  day  of  the  spring  and  fall  were  the 
red  letter  days  of  the  year  in  all.  American  towns.  Let  us  for 
a  moment,  dear  reader,  be  the  "  Father  and  I"  of  that  rattling 


WARS  AND  RUMORS   OF   WAR. 


179 


old  jingle  that  has  now  become  historic  —  those  two  spectators 
who,  say,  in  the  early  twenties  or  even  in  the  early  thirties 

Went  down  to  camp 
Along  with  Cap'n  Gooding, 
And  there  we  saw  the  men  and  boys 
As  thick  as  hasty-pudding." 

They  are  thick  hereabouts  and  no  mistake.  People  every- 
where. And  as  Cap'n  Gooding  leaves  us  and  we  shake  from 
our  shoes  the  dust  of  the  dry  road  along  which  we  have  plodded 
to  the  camp  we  stand  now  upon  the  broad  green  or  "Common" 
just  beyond  the  limits  of  the  county  town.  The  field  is 
flanked  with  peddler's  wagons  and  with  booths  and  stands  of 
every  description  hastily  knocked  together  for  "  this  day  only." 
Muster  day  is  a  great  incentive  to  inordinate  appetite  for 
indigestible  stuffs  and  both  at  the  town  tavern  close  at  hand 
and  here  in  this  encircling  encampment  of  booths  and  wagons 
everything  deemed  most  palatable  in  the  way  of  eatables  and 
drinkables  is  offered  for  sale  alike  to  citizen  and  soldier. 

The  shrill  fife  and  the  roll  of  drum  call  the  soldiers  to 
their  stations.  And  now  the  regiment  gathers  together  —  a 
sight  to  behold.  We  stand  on  tiptoe  to  view  the  muster  and 
the  evolutions,  for  these  are  the  days  of  simplicity  in  the 
republic  and  no  such  aristocratic  luxuries  as  grand  stands  or 
tiers  of  seats  are  provided  for  the  spectators.  The  regiment 
embraces  the  four  divisions  of  the  military  service  —  artillery, 
grenadiers,  light  infantry,  and  riflemen  with  a  dash  of  cavalry 
to  add  excitement  to  the  scene.  Here,  too,  come  the  ununi- 
formed  raw  recruits  known  as  the  "  floodwood  companies." 

The  spectators  are  all  agog.  They  are  full  of  admiration  for 
the  cavalrymen,  mounted  on  horses  of  every  degree  of  mettle 


!8o  WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF    WAR. 

and  decked  out  in  black  suits  faced,  and  corded  with  red. 
These  sit  astride  their  cumbrous  saddles  terrible  with  clanking 
cutlasses  and  formidable  holsters  into  which  are  thrust  the 
huo-e  horse  pistols  of  that  ante-revolver  day.  The  red  leather 
helmets  of  the  grenadiers  gleam  in  the  hot  sun.  Soft  hats  are 
as  yet  a  thing  unknown  and  the  stiff  black  beavers  of  the 
riflemen  in  their  quiet  uniform  of  gray,  and  the  black  leather 
cap  of  the  infantry,  topped  each  with  a  black  and  red  feather 
are  as  comfortless  as  they  are  unpicturesque.  The  infantry 
we  shall  look  at  again  and  again.  Theirs  is  the  most  gorgeous 

o  o  o       o 

of  uniform.  It  is  composed  of  white  trousers  and  black  coats 
the  latter  criss-crossed  with  white  belts  to  which  are  chained 
priming  wires,  brushes  and  extra  flints.  The  "  floodwood  ': 
men  are,  as  a  rule,  innocent  of  uniform.  Only  a  tin  badge  dis- 
played in  the  front  of  their  hat  and  bearing  the  letters  L.  I. 
tells  us  that  these  undecorated  recruits  (who  generally  outnumber 
the  uniformed  companies  two  to  one)  are  really  martial  members 
of  the  Light  Infantry  of  the  State.  They  are  a  prosaic  patch 
in  a  field  of  color. 

The  color  would  seem  to  be  the  only  picturesque  element 
however,  for  the  art  of  military  tailoring  was  of  a  low  grade  in 
the  twenties  and  thirties.  Thoreau  once  said,  "  Wrap  a  salt-fish 
around  a  boy  and  he  would  have  a  coat  much  in  the  fashion  of 
many  a  one  I  have  seen  worn  at  muster." 

And  now  conies  inspection.  The  dull  lines  of  the  "  flood- 
woods  "  (sober  in  their  sheep's  gray  and  blue  jeans  and 
armed  with  rifles,  muskets  and  fowling  pieces  of  every  con- 
ceivable pattern)  are  ordered  to  "toe  the  mark"  —  a  literal 
mark  literally  toed.  Man  by  man  the  platoons  are  inspected 
and  then  along  the  line  rides  the  Colonel  and  his  staff, 
resplendent  in  brass  buttons,  big  epaulets  and  vast  cocked 


WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF   WAR.  181 

hats.  The  music  crashes  out.  It  is  more  voluminous  than 
harmonious  for  the  instruments  have  come  from  all  the  towns 
about.  Its  only  uniformity  is  its  tendency  to  play  out  of  tune. 
With  a  roll  and  a  rattle  the  snare  and  kettle-drums  burst  out ; 
boom !  go  the  basses  and  high  and  shrill  rise  the  notes  of  fife 
and  clarionet,  with  here  and  there,  perhaps,  a  Kent  bugle  — 
the  father  of  the  cornet.  Still  clashing  out  of  tune  the  band 
gathers  around  the  colonel  while  the  regiment  forms  itself 
into  a  hollow  square.  And  the  colonel  doffing  his  chapeau, 
poses  like  the  great  Napoleon  and  after  addressing  a  few 
complimentary  words  to  his  faithful  regiment  retires  from 
the  field. 

Inspection  over,  dinner  follows.  Then  the  noon  gun  calls 
the  regiment  back  to  the  parade  ground  where  each  company 
tries  to  outdo  the  others  in  a  competitive  drill  and  evolutions 
the  movements  of  which  are  all  unknown  to  modern  tactics.  " 

A  break  in  the  maneuvers  is  caused  by  those  who,  lacking 
cartridges,  cannot,  to  the  letter,  obey  the  command :  "  Open 
pan;  tear  cartridge;  point;  shut  pan;  ram  down  cartridge! 
Ready!  Aim!  Fire!"  Each  cartridge-less  one  must  go  down 
into  his  breeches  pocket  for  the  well-filled  powder-flask  from 
which  to  prime  his  pan.  And  more  than  one  unfortunate  in 
the  excitement  of  the  moment,  explodes  his  magazine  in  his 
capacious  pocket  and  retires  from  the  field  singed  and  scorched 
—  wrecked  in  whiskers,  hair  or  eyebrows. 

Or  perhaps  the  captain  shouts  "  Lock-step  and  sit  down  !  " 
Then  in  single  file  the  company  march  about,  forming  a  circle 
in  the  center  of  which  stands  the  captain.^  To  slow  music  the 
circle  draws  toward  the  center  falling  into  the  "  lock-step  "  now 
only  known  to  convict  gangs.  "  Sit !  "  cries  the  captain,  and 
down  goes  each  man  in  the  lap  of  his  neighbor  —  for  all  the 


182 


WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF    WAR. 


world  like  a  company  of  leap-frogs  preparing  to  jump.  In  the 
center,  perched  high  on  a  mackerel  keg,  stands  the  valiant 
captain  with  uplifted  sword;  the  music  rises  shrill  and  high 
and  the  admiring  spectators  wildly  applaud  the  tableau. 

And  now  comes  what  the  crowd  consider  the  great  event  of 
the  day the  sham  battle.     In  a  rudely  constructed  house  of 


IN  THE  "ANTI-RENT  WAR. 


boards  and  boughs,  excluding  air  and  light  and  supposed  to 
represent  a  fort,  one  of  the  militia  companies  huddles  impris- 
oned. Advancing  by  platoons  the  infantry  men  of  the  regiment 
march  upon  the  fort,  discharge  their  guns  in  air,  wheel  outward 
and  retire  to  re-load.  From  the  top  of  a  neighboring  hill  boom 
out  the  blank  charges  of  the  artillery  —  a  battery  of  bloodless 


WAXS  AND   KCMORS   OF   WAR.  183 

besiegers.  Still  farther  away  the  black  coats  of  the  cavalry 
charge  and  swerve  in  a  sham  fight  on  their  own  account.  The 
air  is  filled  with  noise  and  smoke  until  the  sweltering  defenders 
of  the  fort,  overcome  by  heat,  rather  than  by  heroism,  gladly 
capitulate  and  marching  out  with  all  the  honors  of  war  give 
place  in  the  fort  to  another  company  who  immediately  take 
possession  of  it,  likewise  to  swelter  and  surrender. 

And  when  the  sham  fight  is  over  the  day's  training  at  last  is 
done.  "  Father  and  I  "  leave  the  field  and  return  with  Cap'n 
Gooding  convinced  that  a  muster  is  a  grand  and  glorious  sight. 
And  yet,  notwithstanding  this  semi-annual  exercise  and 
evolution,  it  is  asserted  that  in  .all  those  early  days  there  was 
scarcely  a  company  of  militia-men  really  well  drilled  or  pro- 
ficient in  even  the  most  simple  military  movement. 

Practically  the  United  States  were  at  peace  from  the  close 
of  the  War  of  1812  to  the  opening  of  the  war  with  Mexico  in 
1846.  Military  duties  were  slighted  and  shirked  by  the  majority 
of  Americans  who  could  poorly  spare  any  of  the  precious  time 
necessary  to  the  noble  science  of  money-making  for  such 
"  fol-de-rols  "  as  muster  and  parade.  Gradually,  so  great  was 
the  contempt  visited  upon  "  belonging  to  the  military  "  that  the 
militia  system  itself  fell  into  disrepute  and  became  a  butt  and  a 
reproach.  That  typical  raw  recruit  of  the  Biglow  Papers, 
41  Mr.  Birdofredom  Sawin,"  was,  we  know,  ceaselessly  critical  of 
the  fuss  and  feathers  of  muster'day.  Real  war  when  he  had  to 
face  it,  he  declared, 

"  ain't  a  mite  like  our  October  trainin', 

A  chap  could  clear  right  out  from  there  ef  't  only  looked  like  rainin', 
An'  th'  Cunnles,  tu,  could  kiver  up  their  shappoes  with  bandanners, 
An*  send  the  insines  skootin'  to  the  bar-room  with  their  banners 
(Fear  o'  gittin'  on  'em  spotted),  an'  a  feller  could  cry  quarter 
Ef  he  fired  awav  his  ramrod  arter  tu  much  rum  an'  water." 


!84  WARS  AND   RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

The  "forced  volunteers"  of  the  West  —  men  drafted  to 
serve  in  the  militia  of  a  State  in  which  they  had  neither 
time  nor  desire  to  serve  —  not  unfrequently  protested  against 
discipline  and  proscription.  So  the  militia  system  gradually 
fell  into  disrepute.  In  a  land  where  caste  and  rank  find 
but  little  footing  and  where  social  distinctions  are  of  small 
account  obedience  in  playing  at  war  is  but  a  grudging,  a 
contemptuous  or  a  good-humored  concession. 

"  See  here,  Brown/'  a  militia  officer  is  said  to  have  called 
out  to  one  of  the  privates  (who  when  at  home,  was  the  pompous 
captain's  employer),  "  I  reckon  I'll  have  to  report  you  for  dis- 
respect to  your  superior  officer." 

"  Report  and  be  hanged  !  "  returned  the  private,  with  no 
little  emphasis  in  his  tone.  "  When  we  get  home  I  reckon  I'll 
have  to  discharge  you." 

President  Lincoln  once  stated  that,  previous  to  the  Mexican 
war,  so  great  a  bore  did  militia  trainings  become  to  the  people 
of  Illinois  that  they  tried  in  every  way  to  put  them  down. 
Not  being  able  to  do  this  by  repealing  the  militia  laws  they 
tried  hard  to  burlesque  them.  And  so,  according  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  story,  they  elected  one  Gordon  Adams,  a  village 
"bummer"  and  ne'er-do-well,  as  colonel  of  a  Springfield  regi- 
ment. The  new  colonel's  uniform,  contributed  by  his  subordi- 
nates, was  truly  startling.  One  leg  of  his  trousers  was  of  one 
color  and  material,  the  other  was  in  direct  contrast.  He  wore 
a  pasteboard  cap  about  six  feet  long,  looking  much  like  an 
inverted  ox-yoke.  The  shanks  of  his  spurs  were  fully  eight 
inches  long  and  furnished  with  rowels  as  big  as  saucers.  His 
sword  was  of  pine  wood  and  at  least  nine  feet  long.  Among 
the  regimental  rules  and  regulations  were  incorporated  certain 
absurd  clauses,  as  for  instance  this  :  "  No  officer  shall  wear 


<  ARICATURING   TMK    MII.ITIA. 
President  Lincoln's  story  of  "  Colonel  "  Gordon  Adams. 


WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF   WAR.  187 

more  than  twenty  pounds  of  codfish  for  epaulets,  nor  more  than 
thirty  yards  of  Bologna  sausage  for  a  sash."  Upon  the  regi- 
mental banner  was  borne  aloft  these  words  :  "  We'll  fight  till 

o 

we  run  and  run  till  we  die."  The  appearance  of  u  Colonel  " 
Adams  according  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  narrative  ended  militia 
training  in  Springfield.  It  was  killed  by  caricature ! 

A  certain  Indiana  major,  filled  with  an  importance  of  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  mimic  war  as  embodied  in  "  general 
training"  day  and  his  own  ability  to  lead  was  once  elected  to  com- 
mand in  a  Wayne  County  regiment.  He  was  not  an  imposing 
figure.  He  had,  so  the  record  declares,  "  like  Julius  Caesar,  a 
weak  body  but  the  military  ambition  of  a  Charles  the  Twelfth." 
What  he  lacked  in  stature  he  sought  to  make  up  in  uniform. 
The  muster  day  arrived.  The  adjutant  spurred  from  the  head- 
quarters and  with  a  loud  voice  issued  his  orders :  "  Officers,  to 
your  places.  Marshal  your  men  into  companies.  Separate 
the  barefooted  from  those  wearing  shoes  or  moccasins ;  place 
the  guns,  sticks  and  corn-stalks  in  separate  platoons,  and  form 
in  line  to  receive  the  major!" 

The  line  was  formed  and  then,  into  the  field,  amid  the 
clash  of  music,  dashed  the  major  and  his  aids.  The  little 
officer  was  almost  lost  in  his  gorgeous  uniform.  He  wore  a 
blue  coat,  covered  with  gold  lace  and  big  gilt  buttons ;  upon 
his  head  was  a  chapeau,  copied  after  Jackson's  at  the  Horse 
Shoe  fight,  above  which  towered  a  red  plume  tipped  with  white. 
Great  epaulets  weighed  down  his  narrow  shoulders  ;  his  sword- 
scabbard  reached  to  his  feet ;  his  legs  were  cased  in  Suwarrow 
boots  that  over-topped  his  pistol-stuffed  holster  and  were  graced 
with  gilt  spurs  fully  a  foot  long.  Facing  the  waiting  regiment 
the  little  major  reined  in  his  rearing  horse,  rose  in  his  stirrups 
and  shouted  bravely:  "Attention,  the  whole!" 


l88  WARS  AND   RUMORS    OF    WAR. 

But,  alas!  his  voice  was  weak.  It  broke  on  the  "Atten- 
tion!" It  rose  into  a  fifelike  squeak  on  "the  whole."  And 
just  then  from  the  extreme  end  of  the  regimental  line  came 
piping  back  an  exact  imitation  of  the  major's  squeak  :  "  Chillun  ! 
Come  out  'er  the  swamp.  You'll  get  snake-bit !  " 

Down  the  line  dashed  the  enraged  major.  "  Who  dares 
insult  me?"  he  demanded  with  fury  in  his  eyes.  And  for 
reply  there  came  all  along  the  line  the  same  mocking  squeak: 
"  Snake-bit ;  snake-bit ;  you'll  get  snake-bit !  " 

Mortified  and  angered  beyoi:d  endurance  the  poor  little 
major's  assumption  of  pomp  and  ceremony  fell  to  dust  and 
ashes.  He  dashed  his  chapeau  from  his  head ;  he  flung  his 
sword  to  the  ground  ;  he  tore  his  commission  to  pieces  and 
resigned  his  office  on  the  spot.  There  was  no  recovery  from 
so  open  a  farce  and  the  last  militia  muster  had  been  held  in 
the  White  Water  country. 

On  a  certain  "  trainin'  "  day  in  New  Hampshire  a  fuss-and- 
feathers  captain  ordered  the  double-quick.  Away  dashed  the 
command  but  presently  the  captain,  throwing  a  glance  over  his 
shoulder  to  note  the  effect  of  the  maneuver  was  thunder- 
struck to  find  himself  running  alone.  Going  back  to  hunt  up 
his  missing  company  he  found  them,  over  the  fence  —  chasing 
chickens  ! 

Down  in  Virginia  the  captain  of  a  militia  company  fell  into 
hot  dispute  with  his  adjutant  on  training  day.  The  whole 
parade  was  demoralized.  Just  as  the  war  of  words  rose  hottest 
a  three-hundred  pound  hog,  worried  by  the  dogs,  dashed  across 
the  parade  ground  and  darting  between  the  legs  of  the  angry 
captain  sent  him  sprawling  to  the  ground.  With  shrieks  of 
laughter  and  loud  hand-clapping  soldiers  and  citizens  applauded 
the  overthrow.  But  springing  to  his  feet  the  doughty  captain 


WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF    WAR.  189 

tore  off  his  military  coat,  with  all  its  entangling  straps  and 
belts,  flung  aside  his  sword  and  rolling  up  his  shirt  sleeves, 
shouted  out  in  a  fury:  "Come  on,  you!  I'll  lick  the  whole 
company !  "  The  tall  file  leader  who  stood  nearest  him,  "  bent 
like  a  willow-wand  "  in  the  brawny  captain's  grasp.  Such  valor 
was  not  to  be  disputed.  Awed  by  their  captain's  physical 
powers  more  than  by  his  "  panoply  of  war "  the  company  was 
re-formed  and  the  mutiny  was  quelled. 

But  if  the  militia  in  those  "piping  times  of  peace"  was  a 
crudt-,  unorganized  and  graceless  sort  of  body  —  a  very  emphasis, 
in  fact,  of  the  unwarlike  character  of  the  American  people  when 
nothing  urges  them  to  conflict  —  the  eight  thousand  soldiers 
who  made  up  the  slender  regular  army  were  carefully  drilled 
and  thoroughly  organized.  Hampered  by  many  restrictions 
and  enwrapped  in  much  departmental  red  tape,  it  was  yet 
officered  by  men  who,  learning  a  lesson  from  the  failures  of 
1812,  resolved  never  again  to  permit  the  army  of  the  United 
States  to  be  a  stumbling  block  and  a  reproach. 

Gallant  officers  and  rigid  disciplinarians,  such  men  as  Brown, 
Macomb  and  Scott,  were  generals  of  the  army  between  the 
years  1815  and  1846.  Their  vigor,  their  energy  and  their  de- 
termination to  give  to  the  service  strength  and  standing,  put 
into  soldierly  training  the  little  force  at  whose  head  in  turn 
they  stood,  and  educated  men  and  officers  alike  to  be  ready  for 
efficient  service  in  the  two  years'  war  that  was  fast  drawing  near. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


OVER    THE    MEXICAN    BORDER. 

EXICO  — land  of  sunlight 
and  of  shadow,  of  peon 
and  planter,  of  simplicity 
and  superstition,  of  cour- 
tesy and  cupidity,  of  lazy 
manners  and  of  flaming 
passions  —  what  spirit  of 
evil  could  have  induced  a 
powerful  northern  nation 
to  seek  the  humbling  and 
the  spoiling  of  so  pictur- 
esque and  yet  so  ambi- 
tious, so  distracted  and 
yet  so  devoted,  so  patri- 
otic and  yet  so  partisan 
a  sister  republic  ?  Fired 
by  the  example  of  the 

Northern  colonies  in  their  revolt  against  English  tryanny  the 
land  of  the  Aztecs  had  in  1815  declared  itself  independent  and 
in  1821  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Spain. 

The  republic  of  Mexico !     Surely  here  was  an  effort  toward 

progress  and  freedom  worthy  to  be  fostered  and  upheld  by  that 

190 


OVER    THE  MEXICAN  BORDER.  191 

great  people  whose  success  had  given  it  being.  What  if  it  was 
torn  by  faction  and  jealousies,  a  hot-bed  of  revolutions  and  of 
unfulfilled  opportunities  ?  Ought  it  not  to  have  been  all  the 
more  a  land  to  be  befriended  by  a  people  who  had  conquered 
circumstances  and  obtained  success?  And  yet  in  1846  the 
northern  eagles  swooped  down  upon  the  southern  doves  and 
dyed  the  tricolored  banner  of  Mexico  in  the  blood  of  her 
bravest  and  her  best. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  volume  to  enter  into  the 
causes  of  those  various  wars  in  which  the  American  soldier  has 
played  his  part.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  no  conflict  in 
which  the  republic  of  the  United  States  had  been  one  of  the 
principals  was  ever  more  unnecessary,  heartless  or  unjust.  A 
little  cool  judgment  on  the  part  of  our  national  leaders,  a  little 
friendly  concession  toward  a  weaker  neighbor,  a  determined 
effort  toward  that  arbitration  which  to-day  is  the  great  pacificator 
of  the  world  —  and  the  willful  waste  of  blood  and  treasure,  the 
shame  and  taint  of  our  war  against  Mexico  might  never  have 
sullied  the  name  of  the  United  States. 

A  war  conceived  in  the  interests  of  slavery,  advocated 
as  a  political  necessity  and  precipitated  by  the  unwarranted 
occupation  of  a  strip  of  foreign,  or  at  least  of  neutral  ground 
—  such  was  the  war  with  Mexico!  No  wonder  our  justice- 
loving  Northern  poet  cried  out  in  wrath 

"  Where's  now  the  flag  of  that  old  war  ? 

Where  flows  its  stripe  ?     Where  burns  its  star? 

Bear  witness,  Palo  Alto's  day, 

Dark  vale  of  Palms,  red  Monterey  ; 

Where  Mexic  freedom,  young  and  weak, 

Fleshes  the  northern  eagle's  beak ; 

Symbol  of  terror  and  despair, 

Of  chains  and  slaves,  go  seek  it  there !  " 


I92  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER, 

And  yet  so  incongruous  is  fate,  so  unreasoning  is  heroism, 
the  very  war  that  should  have  been  distasteful  to  freemen  —  a 
war  in  behalf  of  oppression,  offensive  and  not  defensive,  aggres- 
sive and  not  resistant,  wrong  and  not  right  —  this  was  the  one 
war  of  all  others,  up  to  that  stage  of  American  history,  most 
replete  with  daring,  heroism  and  resistless  successes.  Fought, 
always,  against  fearful  odds,  in  a  strange  land  and  in  an 
unfriendly  climate,  from  first  to  last  the  war  was  full  of  triumph 
for  the  stars  and  stripes.  The  march  of  the  American  soldiers 
across  the  Mexican  borders  and  into  the  old  Aztec  capital  was 
but  one  continuous  series  of  victories. 

The  nation  was  ready  for  war.  Schooled  by  the  imbecilities 
and  reverses  of  1812  to  an  appreciation  of  military  needs  the 
regular  army  of  the  United  States,  as  has  already  been  said, 
though  small  in  numbers  was  admirably  drilled  and  vet  more 

O  ^  J 

admirably   officered.     The    military    academy   at    \Yest    Point, 
founded  by  act  of  Congress  in  1802,  had  been  reorganized  in 

J  O  O 

1812  and  placed  upon  such  a  basis  of  excellence  and  effort  that 
its  graduates  left  it  soldiers  in  training  as  well  as  in  theory. 

The  men  who    led   and  who    fought    in   the   ranks    of    the 

O 

United  States  army  in  1846  and  1847,  were  men  indeed  - 
picked  from  the  fighting  stock  of  a  nation  which,  notwithstand- 
ing the  farces  of  muster  days  and  the  empty  pomp  of  "general 
training,"  had  still  at  base  the  valor,  the  endurance  and  the 
pluck  that  was  the  heritage  of  that  time  that  tried  men's  souls 
threescore  years  before  —  the  outcome  of  those  historic  clays 
when  men  rallied  for  the  right  and  laid  down  their  lives  for 
Liberty. 

Professor  Soley,  carefully  studying  the  details  of  the  Mexican 
war,  asserts  that  "the  skill  and  daring  of  the  officers,  and  the 
discipline,  endurance  and  couracre  of  the  men  durins:  the  war 


OVER    THE   Af EX  1C  AN  BORDER.  r93 

with  Mexico,  were  as  noticeable  as  was  the  absence  of  these 
qualities  during  the  War  of  1812."  Here  was  no  leaderless 
war.  The  names  of  Taylor  and  of  Scott,  of  Worth  and  Wool, 
of  Quitman  and  Kearney,  of  McKenzie  and  Shields  belonged 
alike  to  leaders  and  to  soldiers  and,  in  the  lack  of  competent 
Mexican  generals,  afford  one  reason  for  the  unvarying  suc- 
cesses of  the  American  arms. 

The  determined  efforts  of  Texas  (largely  settled  by  Ameri- 
cans) to  free  itself  from  the    Mexic-Spanish    yoke,  the  heroic 
stand  at  the  Alamo  —  that  "Thermopylae  of  America"  —  the 
dreary  tragedy  of  Goliad,  the  valorous  and  triumphant  conflict 
at  San  Jacinto  lost  the   Lone  Star  republic  to  Mexico,  brought 
her  at   last   into   the   confederation   of   the   United  States  and 
aroused  the  world  to  a  fresh  sympathy  with  brave  men  nerved 
to  heroic  endeavor  by  a  great  desire.     What  man  with  fighting 
blood  in  his   veins  or  the  inspiration  of  courage  in  his  heart 
would  not  be  stirred  to  admiration  by  the  heroism  of  Travis 
and  his  brave  two  hundred  and  fifty  at  the  Alamo  and  by  the 
desperate    valor   of    San    Houston's    eight     hundred    at     San 
Jacinto  ?    Valor  begets  enthusiasm,  and  when  at  last  war  against 
Mexico  was  declared  there  was  but  little  reasoning  among  those 
who  saw.,  in  the  fight  over  a  new  empire,  opportunity  for  great 
deeds  and  martial  experiences.     To  him  who  longed  to  shoulder 
a  musket  or  swing  a  saber  the  question  as  to  right  or  wrong 
counted  for  but  little.     The  invasion  of  Mexico  might  be  "  a 
political  necessity,"  the  contest  might  be  only  a  "  war  of  pre- 
text " —  both  invasion  and  contest  afforded,  at  least,  a  pretext 
for  valorous  deeds,  a  necessity  for  sturdy  fighters  and,  to  the 
soldiers,  these  were  as  all  in  all. 

So  off  to  the  wars  they  marched  —  regulars  and  volunteers 
alike,  all  filled  with  a  desire  for  action,  all  swayed  with  the  hope 


I94  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 

of  glory.  Their  general  was  that  Zachary  Taylor  whose  army 
nickname  of  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready  "  sufficiently  indicates 
his  character.  Rough  indeed  he  was  when  warlike  necessities 
called  for  vigorous  actions ;  and  ready,  too,  the  record  shows 
him  to  have  been  whether  responding  to  the  government's  call 
for  the  immediate  occupation  of  the  disputed  territory  or  storm- 
ing against  the  host  of  foeman  below  the  rocky  heights  that 
frowned  on  Angostura. 

Seizing  the  disputed  stretch  of  territory  that  lay,  two 
hundred  miles  in  width,  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  General  Taylor  with  his  Army  of  Occupation,  twenty- 
five  hundred  strong,  rendezvoused  at  Point  Isabel  not  far  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Great  River.  His  force  comprised  one 
thousand  regulars  and  less  than  fifteen  hundred  volunteers 
drawn  from  the  southwestern  States.  It  consisted  of  one 
regiment  of  cavalry  ("dragoons"),  four  companies  of  light 
artillery,  five  regiments  of  infantry  and  one  regiment  of  artil- 
lery acting  as  infantry.  Over  the  camp  at  Point  Isabel  floated 
the  American  flag  and  this  was  deemed  by  the  Mexicans  alike 
an  insult  and  an  invitation  to  war.  And  war  beo;an. 

O 

The  Mexican  bombardment  of  Fort  Brown,  a  hastily  con- 
structed fortification  thrown  up  by  the  Americans  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  opposite  Matomoras,  was  the  signal  for  battle. 
The  battle  followed  speedily.  It  was  a  double  engagement 
fought  with  all  the  faith  that  comes  from  superiority  of  numbers 
by  the  over-confident  Mexicans  and  with  all  the  valor  of  des- 
peration by  the  little  American  army.  Along  the  easterly 
side  of  the  Rio  Grande  North  .and  South  met  in  conflict. 
In  this  double  fight  —  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca 
de  la  Palma,  in  both  of  which  the  Mexican  array  of  over  six 
thousand  men  outnumbered  the  Americans  almost  three  to 


OVER    THE  MEXICAN  BORDER. 


'95 


one  —  the  courage  of  the  northern  army  and  the  ability  of  its 
leader  stood  the  test  of  battle  and  gave  the  key-note  to  this 
epic  of  war.  A  five  hours'  fight  at  Palo  Alto — the  "tall 
trees  "  —  on  the  eighth  of  May  gave  the  victory  to  the  North- 
ern arms.  On  the  ninth  the  yet  fiercer  fight  at  Resaca  de  la 
Palma  sent  the  Mexicans  flying  across  the  river  in  full  retreat 
and  the  first  victory  was  won.  The  Mexican  contempt  for 
their  Northern  antagonists  was  changed  to  consternation. 
With  one  seventh  of  their  number  wounded  or  prisoners,  the 
Mexican  soldiers  fled  before  the  northern  bayonet,  enraged 
yet  defeated  and  as  one  American  officer  has  testified  "throw- 
ing their  muskets  at  our  men  in  the  spirit  of  desperation, 
swearing  that  they  were  devils  incarnate."  It  was  a  sad  revela- 
tion to  the  too-confident  Mexicans.  The  victory  they  so 
unquestioningly  expected  was  but  bitter  defeat.  The  wail  of 
disaster  lives  in  the  lines  of  one  of  their  native  poets: 

"  Dark  is  Palo  Alto's  story, 

Sad  Resaca  Pal  ma's  rout ; 
On  those  fatal  fields  so  gory 

Many  a  gallant  life  went  out. 

"  On  they  came,  those  Northern  horsemen, 

On  like  eagles  through  the  sun  ; 
Followed  then  the  Northern  bayonet, 

And  the  field  was  lost  and  won." 

The  field  indeed  was  lost  and  won.  General  Taylor  crossed 
the  Rio  Grande.  The  Army  of  Occupation  became  the  Army 
of  Invasion.  The  effect  of  these  battles  on  the  American  peo- 
ple was  like  an  elixir.  It  fired  them  to  ambitious  and  determined 
action.  The  president  issued  a  call  for  fifty  thousand  volun- 
teers. Ten  times  that  number  responded.  The  Government 
could  not  handle  the  host  and  only  the  number  called  for  was 


I96  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 

sent  south.  It  was  divided  into  three  sections  —  the  Army  of 
Occupation,  the  Army  of  the  Center  and  the  Army  of  the 
West.  Sixty-five  hundred  men  shouldered  their  flint-locks  and 
at  once  the  forward  march  was  taken  for  this  modern  conquest 
of  Mexico. 

It  is  characteristic  of  human  nature  to  honor  heroism  and 
to  emphasize,  in  the  story  of  a  successful  war,  not  the  blood  but 
the  bravery  that  it  displays.  As  the  years  go  by  and  the  real 
horrors  of  conflict  and  carnage  are  weakened  by  remoteness  so 
are  the  valorous  deeds  intensified  and  made  to  appear  gleaming 
and  glorious. 

The  triumphal  march  on  Mexico  made  by  the  American 
soldiers  takes  to  itself  as  we  now  look  back  upon  it  all  the 
glitter  and  romance  of  the  historic  deeds  of  those  old  conquis- 
tadorcs  of  Spain  who,  amid  these  same  hills  and  valleys,  turned 
a  race  of  progressive  barbarians  into  a  nation  of  slaves.  Alva- 
rado's  mighty  leap  across  the  broken  causeway,  Sandoval's 
dashing  charge  up  the  bloody  stairway  of  the  Aztec  temple  and 
Olid's  fiery  valor  at  Otumba  are  recalled  by  May's  terrific 
charge  upon  the  Mexican  batteries  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  by 
Smith's  furious  onset  at  Contreras  and  by  Ouitman's  stubborn 
defense  of  the  San  Belen  c:ate. 

O 

And  as  we  are  apt,  in  the  glamour  of  Spanish  victory,  to  lose 
sight  of  the  bravery  of  those  heroic  * tzins  of  the  Aztec  —  Cacama 
and  Guatamo  —  so  we  place  in  our  records  of  this  modern  con- 
quest but  scant  mention  of  that  brave  Mexican  color-sergeant' 
who  on  the  stricken  field  of  Palo  Alto  left  the  fioiit,  the  last 

o 

of  his  regiment,  wrapped  in  the  folds  of  the  flag  he  had  so 
valiantly  defended  —  the  tattered  banner  of  the  Tampico  Vete- 
rans; we  find  but  brief  reference  to  that  gallant  old  Revolu- 

O 

tionary  leader  Bravo   and    his    young    cadets  of    the    Mexican 


OVER    THE  MEXICAN  BORDER.  197 

military  academy  who  held  the  hill  of  Chapultepec  against  the 
terrible  charge  of  their  Northern  foeman.  It  is  time  for  us  to 
give  up  the  old  fable  that  the  Mexicans  who  withstood  our 
arms  were  only  greasers  and  cowards.  It  is  proper  for  us  to 
bear  in  mind  that  in  the  Mexican  calendar  Cherubusco  and 
Chapultepec  are  celebrated  as  victories  instead  of  defeats  —  the 
birthdays  of  patriotism  and  valor.  That  these  patriots  were  foe- 
men  worthy  of  our  steel  full  many  a  northern  soldier  on  those 
bloody  fields  learned  to  his  cost. 

14  The  Mexican  army  of  that  day,"  says  General  Grant,  "  was 
hardly  an  organization.  The  private  soldier  was  poorly  clothed, 
worse  fed  and  seldom  paid  ;  yet  I  have  seen  as  brave  stands  made 
by  some  of  these  men  as  I  have  ever  seen  made  by  soldiers." 

Honoring  those  whose  names  gave  emphasis  to  victory  we 
read  the  record  of  this  unnecessary  but  fascinating  war  with  no 
little  enthusiasm.  Our  caps  are  flung  aloft  at  each  recurring 
victory  and  we  almost  resent  with  indignation  the  grumbling 
criticisms  of  that  same  grumbling  volunteer  of  the  "  Biglow 
Papers  "  who,  after  the  war  was  over,  declared  with  equally  bad 
grace  and  bad  grammar  : 

"  But  somehow,  wen  we'd  fit  an*  licked,  I  oilers  found  the  thanks 

Clut  kin'  o'  lodged  afore  they  come  ez  low  down  ez  the  ranks ; 

The  Gin'rals  gut  the  biggest  sheer,  the  Gunnels  next,  an'  so  on, — 

\Ve  never  gut  a  blasted  might  o'  glory  ez  I  know  on  ; 

An*  s'pose  we  hed,  I  wonder  how  you  're  goin'  to  contrive  its 

Division  so's  to  give  a  piece  to  twenty  thousand  privits ; 

}•'.{  you  should  multiply  by  ten  the  portion  o*  the  brav'st  one, 

You  wouldn't  git  mor'n  half  enough  to  speak  of  on  a  grave-stun ; 

We  git  the  licks  —  we're  jest  the  grist  thet's  put  into  War's  hoppers  ; 

Leftenants  is  the  lowest  grade  thet  helps  pick  up  the  coppers. 

It  may  suit  folks  thet  go  agin  a  body  with  a  soul  in  't ; 

An'  ain't  contented  with  a  hide  without  a  bagnet  hole  in  't ; 

But  glory  is  a  kin'  o'  thing  /sha'n't  pursue  no  furder, 

Coz  thet's  the  offcers  parquisite,  —  yourn's  on'y  jest  the  murder." 


I98  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 

Looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  right  the  war  against 
Mexico  was  unwarranted,  unnecessary  and  inexcusable ;  re- 
garded from  the  standpoint  of  action  it  was  thrilling,  inspiring 
and  glorious.  Inch  by  inch  through  a  hostile  country,  against 
a  myriad  odds,  with  an  enemy  outnumbering  it  many  times 
over,  the  American  army  pushed  on  from  assault  to  assault  and 
from  victory  to  victory  until  the  stars  and  stripes  waved  in 
triumph  above  the  halls  of  the  Montezumas.  The  valor  at 
Palo  Alto,  the  dogged  determination  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma 
formed  but  the  proem  to  this  epic  of  war.  The  only  time  in 
its  history  that  the  United  States  invaded  a  foreign  country 
the  story  of  that  invasion  is  one  unbroken  record  of  daring  and 
success. 

The  bloody  streets  of  Monterey,  the  smoked-filled  defiles 
of  Buena  Vista,  the  echoing  batteries  of  Vera  Cruz,  the 

O 

stricken  tower  of  Cerro  Gordo,  the  ragged  lava  beds  of  Con- 
treras,  the  fated  fortress  of  Cherubusco,  the  shattered  structure 
of  Molino  Del  Rey,  the  storied  height  of  Chapultepec,  the  bat- 
tered gates  of  Mexico  alike  bore  terrible  evidence  of  the  stub- 
bornness and  bravery,  the  valor  and  the  resistless  sweep  of  that 
little  army  of  Northern  invaders  who,  at  every  step,  forced 
victory  out  of  desperate  chances  and  sowed  the  seeds  of  an 
international  enmity  that  not  forty  years  of  peace  have  yet 
removed.  The  war  with  Mexico  retrieved  the  inbecilities  of 
1812  and  raised  the  name  of  the  American  soldier  to  a  place 
of  glory  and  honor  that  found  its  after  fruits  in  the  desperate 
life  struggle  of  the  nation  where  valor  met  valor,  as  brother 
grappled  with  brother  on  Virginian  battle-fields  and  on  the 
banks  of  the  mighty  Mississippi. 

It  was  a  war  to  make  the  philanthropist  shudder  and  the 
soldier  loudly  huzza.  Whittier's  glimpse  of  the  terrible  battle 


OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER.  199 

of  Buena  Vista  is  not  all  romance  and  poetry ;  it  is  a  picture* 
of  passion  photographed  by  philanthropy : 

"  Look  forth  once  more,  Ximena  I     '  Ah  !  the  smoke  has  rolled  away; 
And  I  see  the  Northern  rifles  gleaming  down  the  ranks  of  gray. 
Hark  !  that  sudden  blast  of  bugles !  there  the  troop  of  Minon  wheels  ; 
There  the  Northern  horses  thunder,  with  the  cannon  at  their  heels. 

" '  Jesu,  pity  !  how  it  thickens !  now  retreat  and  now  advance  ! 
Right  against  the  blazing  cannons  shivers  Puebla's  charging  lance  I 
Down  they  go,  the  brave  young  riders ;  horse  and  foot  together  fall ; 
Like  a  ploughshare  in  the  fallow,  through  them  ploughs  the  Northern  ball.' 

"  l,ook  forth  once  more,  Ximena  !     '  Like  a  cloud  before  the  wind 
Rolls  the  battle  down  the  mountains,  leaving  blood  and  death  behind; 
Ah !  they  plead  in  vain  for  mercy ;  in  the  dust  the  wounded  strive  ; 
Hide  your  faces,  holy  angels !     O  thou  Christ  of  God,  forgive  ! ' 

"Sink,  O  Night,  among  thy  mountains,  let  the  cool  gray  shadows  fall ; 
Dying  brothers,  fighting  demons,  drop  thy  curtain  over  all ! 
Through  the  thickening  winter  twilight,  wide  apart  the  battle  rolled, 
In  its  sheath  the  saber  rested,  and  the  cannon's  lips  grew  cold. 

"  Not  wholly  lost,  O  Father  !  is  this  evil  world  of  ours; 
Upward,  through  its  blood  and  ashes,  spring  afresh  the  Eden  flowers; 
From  its  smoking  hell  of  battle,  Love  and  Pity  send  their  prayer, 
And  still  thy  white  winged  angels  hover  dimly  in  our  air  1  " 

There  are  triumphs  of  brain  quite  as  marvelous  as  those  of 
muscle  ;  there  are  victories  of  strategy  more  complete  than  those 
of  sword  and  bayonet.  Such  was  Taylor's  masterly  retreat 
from  Agua  Nueva  by  which  was  secured  the  wonderful  victory 
of  Buena  Vista ;  such,  too,  was  that  shrewd  change  of  base  by 
which  Scott  avoided  the  trap  set  for  him  by  the  wily  Santa 
Anna  and  opened  the  way  for  his  almost  unresisted  march  upon 
the  Mexican  capital. 

And,  as  typical  of  those  displays  of  valor  in  which  general- 
ship overcame  numbers  and  brute  force  yielded  to  discipline, 


2OO 


OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 


none  of  the  engagements  of  the  war  stand  out  with  greater 
distinctness  than  does  the  victory  at  Buena  Vista  and  that  des- 
perate fight  which/waged  near  the  convent  at  Cherubusco,  won 
the  way  to  Mexico. 

In  both  engagements  the  Mexicans  outnumbered  the 
Americans  almost  four  to  one;  but  Buena  Vista  was  fought 
almost  under  the  shadows  of  that  uncertainty  as  to  the  real 
fighting-qualities  of  Mexico's  legions  and  the  real  persistence  of 
America's  bayonets  which  not  even  the  valor  of  Palo  Alto  and 
Resaca  de  la  Palma  nor  all  the  bloody  memories  of  the  deter- 
mined fury  at  Monterey  could  yet  quite  remove;  Cherubusco 
was  almost  the  last  of  that  unbroken  series  of  victories  that 
had,  by  that  time,  made  America  over-confident  and  Mexico 
despondent. 

Pressing  through   the  narrow  defiles  of  those  high  Sierras 

o  o  o 

that  flank  the  open  table-lands  of  Northern  Mexico  came,  rank 
after  rank,  on  the  twenty-second  of  February,  1847,  the  army  of 
Santa  Anna,  twenty  thousand  strong.  Encamped  upon  a  cir- 
cumscribed plateau,  that  commanded  the  approaches  upon  every 
side,  the  little  force  of  General  Taylor,  a  scant  five  thousand 
men,  awaited  the  onset  of  the  foe.  The  army  of  the  stout  old 
American  commander  had  been  shorn  of  half  its  fighting 
strength,  taken  for  the  reinforcement  of  Scott's  new  army  that 
was  to  march  upon  Mexico  from  the  sea.  This  demand  had 
withdrawn  from  Taylor's  army,  already  small  enough  for  oper- 
ations in  a  hostile  country,  nearly  all  of  the  regulars,  Worth's 
volunteers  and  Quitman's  and  Twiggs'  commands.  Enraged  at 
the  defeats  in  the  north  the  Mexicans,  in  overwhelming  num- 
bers, had  gathered  under  the  lead  of  their  wariest  and  most 
successful  general  to  fall  upon  and  utterly  crush  out  this  little 
remnant  of  northern  invasion  that  had  retreated  from  Airua 


THE    liATTLK   OK   Bf 


"  Down  the  hills  of  Angostura  still  the  storm  of  battle  rolls; 
Blood  is  flowing,  men  are  dying  ;  God  have  mercy  on  their  souls !  " 


•     OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER.  203 

Nueva  and  between  whom  and  destruction  there  only  waited 
the  merciless  order  of  the  Mexican  leader  to  slay  and  spare  not. 
The  situation  was  desperate  indeed. 

"  You  are  surrounded  by  twenty  thousand  men,"  came  the 
summons  of  Santa  Anna  to  Taylor.  "  You  cannot  avoid  being 
cut  to  pieces  with  your  troops.  Surrender  at  once  and  you 
shall  be  treated  with  that  consideration  that  belongs  to  the 
Mexican  character." 

And  back  went  the  brief  but  plucky  reply  of  "  Old  Rough 
and  Ready:  "  "  I  decline  to  accede  to  your  request." 

Then  Ampudia's  light  infantry  rushed  to  the  attack.  The 
battle  was  joined: 

"  Like  the  fierce  northern  hurricane 

That  sweeps  his  great  plateau, 

Flushed  with  the  triumph  yet  to  gain 

Came  down  the  serried  foe. 

Who  heard  the  thunder  of  the  fray 

Break  o'er  the  field  beneath 

Knew  well  the  watchword  of  that  day 

\Va*  Victory  or  Death  !  '* 

Hut  Ampudia's  men  fire  wildly.  The  American  riflemen 
are  sure  and  steady  of  aim.  And  when  the  sun  sank  behind 

J 

the  overhanging  hills  the  Americans  still  hold  with  stubborn 
determination  the 'key  to  their  position  —  La  Angostura,  "The 
Narrows,"  that  pass  of  scanty  width  just  south  of  the  farm 
house  of  Buena  Vista,  through  which  the  main  portion  of 
Santa  Anna's  army  must  push  their  way  if  they  hope  to  gain 
the  expected  victory.  And  so  night  fell  upon  the  field. 

Hut  the  sun  rose  on  a  renewed  struggle.  Strongly  rein- 
forced, Ampudia's  men  drive  in  the  American  pickets.  From 
five  different  positions  the  Mexicans  press  to  the  attack. 


2o4  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER.  • 

Destruction  seems  inevitable.  The  Indiana  troops  turn  in 
flight,  O'Brien's  battery,  deprived  of  its  support,  is  overwhelmed 
and  captured  by  the  Mexican  host  it  has  so  valiantly  held  at 
bay.  The  American  left  is  turned.  Fleeing  soldiers  rush 
wildly  into  Buena  Vista  crying  that  the  day  is  lost. 

But  still  the  Americans  hold  the  narrow  pass.  Charge  as 
they  will  the  men  of  Villamie's  column  cannot  dislodge  the 
little  American  battery  that  commands  the  roadway  through 
the  defile  of  Angostura.  Victory  trembles  in  the  balance. 
Suddenly  loud  cheers  ring  out  at  Buena  Vista  and  in  a  column 
of  dust,  spurring  to  the  aid  of  his  boys  at  bay  in  the  Narrows, 
Old  Rough  and  Ready  comes  riding  from  Saltillo  where  he  has 
been  arranging  for  the  protection  of  his  rear-guard. 

"Never  mind  Villamie,"  he  cried;  "he's  done  for.  Wash- 
ington can  hold  the  pass.  Send  the  Mississippi  riflemen  to  the 
left.  Bring  up  the  Third  Indiana.  Let  Sherman's  battery 
support  them.  May,  ride  with  your  dragoons  to  the  upper 
plateau.  Ampudia  must  be  checked  !" 

And  Ampudia  was  checked.  The  Mexican  lancers,  fifteen 
hundred  strong,  the  special  pride  of  Santa  Anna,  the  flower  of 
Mexico's  army,  go  down  like  grain  beneath  the  fire  of  the 
northern  riflemen.  The  left  is  strengthened.  The  Mexicans, 
blind  to  the  real  key  to  the  field,  give  over  their  assault  on  the 
Narrows.  With  a  last  mighty  clash  of  arms  the  battle  centers 
about  the  little  hamlet  of  Buena  Vista  and  almost  before  they 
know  it  the  field  is  won. 

The  men  of  Kentucky  and  Arkansas  bear  back  Ampudia's 
dashing  cavalry.  Forced  backward,  step  by  step,  in  a  desperate 
hand-to-hand  fight  on  horseback,  go  Torrejon  and  his  dragoons. 
The  commands  of  Ampudia  and  Pachcco,  overwhelming  in 
numbers  are  hemmed  in  between  the  narrow  defiles  and 


OVER    THE  MEXICAN  BORDER.  205 

pounded  at  by  three  American  batteries.  Six  thousand  Mexi- 
cans are  almost  caught  in  a  trap  of  their  own  making  when  a 
white  flag  flutters  from  the  Mexican  lines  and  Santa  Anna 
coolly  demands  :  "  What  does  General  Taylor  want  ?  " 

The  batteries  cease  firing,  the  troops  rest  for  an  armistice 
and  the  hemmed-in  Mexicans  escape  from  their  trap.  This 
at  all  events,  is  just  what  the  wily  Santa  Anna  wants;  and 
when  this  is  effected,  clash !  go  his  sabers ;  bang !  go  his 
guns  again. 

Hut  not  saber  clash  nor  bang  of  gun  can  save  the  day  for 
Mexico.  Down  in  the  dust  before  the  pitiless  grape  and 
canister  of  O'Brien's  batteries  go  Villamie's  reserves;  back  to 
the  hills  flies  the  renegade  brigade  of  San  Patricio  ;  Ampudia's 
men  are  in  full  retreat.  Santa  Anna  himself,  spent  with  this 
fruitless  hurling  of  his  masses  against  such  undaunted  men, 
gives  up  the  battle  with  the  sun.  Night  falls  again  upon 
Angostura  and  Buena  Vista  and,  before  morning  dawns,  the 
crippled  Mexican  army  melt  away  and  the  stubborn  fight  of 
that  twenty-third  of  February  becomes  the  historic  victory  of 
Buena  Vista  —  really  the  decisive  battle  of  the  war.  Twenty- 
five  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded,  with  four  thousand  mis- 
sing and  deserters  is  what-  Mexico  paid  for  that  dismal  defeat; 
two  hundred  and  sixty-four  in  killed,  four  hundred  and  fifty  in 
wounded  is  the  cost  of  America's  triumph : 

"  Full  many  a  norther's  breath  has  swept 

O'er  Angostura's  plain, 
And  long  the  pitying  sky  has  wept 

Above  the  mouldered  slain. 
The  raven's  scream  or  eagle's  flight, 

Or  shepherd's  pensive  lay, 
Alone  now  wakes  each  solemn  height 

That  frowned  on  that  dread  fray." 


2o6  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 

Buena  Vista  was  the  key-note  of  victory  in  the  north ;  in 
somewhat  different  fashion,  but  as  surely,  the  pivotal  battle  in 
the  south  was  the  furious  fight  of  Cherubusco.  Zachary 
Taylor  had  broken  the  power  of  Mexico  ;  now  to  complete 
the  conquest  came,  with  a  well-disciplined  force  of  ten  thousand 
Americans  —  regulars,  volunteers  and  war-ships*  -Winfield 
Scott,  the  victor  of  Lundy's  Lane,  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  armies  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  the  spring  of  1847.  On  the  twenty-third  of  March 
Vera  Cruz,  the  chief  seaport  of  the  Southern  Republic,  fell 
before  the  destructive  cannonade  of  the  American  batteries. 
On  the  eighteenth  of  April  Twiggs'  brigade  carried  by  storm 
the  entrenchments  on  the  bristling  heights  of  Cerro  Gordo ;  the 
men  of  Shields'  and  Rilev's  commands  charged  the  fort  and 

j  O 

batteries;  Santa  Anna's  fifteen  thousand  fled  for  their  lives 
toward  the  capital,  and  the  famous  wooden  leg  of  their  artful 
but  intrepid  commander  was  left  on  the  field  as  a  reminder  of 
his  hasty  flight. 

By  August  the  soldiers  of  Scott  had  climbed  the  Sierras 
from  whose  crest,  as  had  Cortez  and  his  men  three  centuries 
before,  they  looked  down  into  the  lovely  Valley  of  Mexico. 
From  Pueblo  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  the  National  Road,  which 
was  the  main  approach  to  the  capital,  was  defended  by  every 
device  known  to  a  desperate  people  and  an  army  of  over  thirty 
thousand  men  had  rallied  to  Santa  Anna's  call  to  repel  the 
northern  invasion. 

But,  nothing  daunted,  Scott  advanced  to  Ayatta  and 
looking  off  at  the  capital  city  only  fifteen  miles  distant  awaited 
the  report  of  his  engineers.  "  The  Mexicans  outnumber  us 

*  General  Scott's  invading  force  comprised  four  regiments  of  artillery,  eight  of  infantry,  one  of  mounted 
riflemen,  and  detachments  of  dragoons —  "  the  then  standing  army  of  the  United  States;  "  added  to  these  regulars  were 
eight  volunteer  regiments  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry. 


OVER    THE  MEXICAN  BORDER.  207 

four  to  one,"  they  said.  "  Yonder  fortress  of  El  Penon, 
between  the  lakes,  commands  the  road.  Its  capture  will  cost 
you  fully  a  third  of  your  army." 

"  Is  there  no  other  approach  to  the  city?"  Scott  inquired. 

"  None  but  the  mule-path  around  Lake  Chalco,  to  the 
south,  and  over  the  lava  beds,"  was  the  reply. 

44  Can  we  get  our  cannon  and  wagons  over  the  mule-path  ? " 
the  general  asked. 

"Only  by  hard  work,"  said  the  engineers. 

"  Then  make  it  passable,"  Scott  commanded.  "  We'll  go 
by  the  mule-path.  The  best  way  to  march  on  an  enemy  is  by 
the  way  he  least  expects  you  to  take." 

The  road  was  "fixed";  the  detour  around  the  lakes  was 
made; and  by  the  mule-path  and  over  the  ragged  lava  beds 
Scott's  ten  thousand  eluded  the  entrenched  enemy  and 
approached  their  capital.  The  city  of  Mexico,  beautiful  for 
situation,  the  historic  metropolis  of  Montezuma's  fabled  king- 
dom, was,  at  the  time  of  Scott's  advance,  inhabited  by  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  people  and  defended  by  thirty-five 
thousand  soldiers. 

At  the  hill  of  Contreras,  in  the  valley  beyond  the  lava 
beds,  forty-five  hundred  Americans  burst  like  a  storm  upon 
Valencia's  seven  thousand  and  in  an  action  of  seventeen 
minutes  sent  them  flying  toward  Cherubusco  with  a  loss  of 
seven  hundred  dead,  and  nine  hundred  prisoners. 

Around  the  fortified  convent  of  San  Pablo  de  Cherubusco 
Santa  Anna  had  concentrated  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men. 
Scott's  available  force  was  scarcely  more  than  eight  thousand, 
but  it  was  a  determined  and  jubilant  eight  thousand,  flushed 
with  victory  and  confident  of  success. 

The    convent-castle    bristled   with    cannon.     The    Mexican 


2o8  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 

guns  commanded  every  approach.  The  Mexican  army  was 
in  position,  determined  now  to  strike  one  last  and  overwhelm- 
ing blow  for  victory  against  the  northern  invaders. 

But  no  such  obstacles  as  fortress,  guns  or  masses  of  men 
can  stay  the  march  of  the  Americans.  Right  on  they  push. 
Through  the  maguey  groves,  through  the  cornfields  and 
vegetable  gardens,  through  the  ambuscade  of  dense  and  over- 
hanging foliage  their  resistless  march  goes  on.  On  front  and 
flank  they  fall  remorselessly,  while  the  Third  Infantry,  with  a 
furious  charge,  clash  at  the  embattled  convent,  breached  by 
Taylor's  battery,  and  carry  it  by  storm.  Useless  to  contend 
against  such  merciless  fighters  as  these,  O,  Mexican  patriots! 
Yet  fight  they  do  and  nobly,  though  to  little  purpose. 
Straight  against  those  wavering  ranks  ride  Kearney's  cavalry- 
men, down  upon  them  charge  Shields  and  Pierce,  across  the 
ditches,  careless  of  shot  and  shell,  spring  Worth's  infantrymen. 
The  Mexicans  give  way,  they  turn  to  flight  and  streaming 
along  the  causeway,  "  in  one  wild,  panic-stricken  mass  "  they 
seek  the  uncertain  security  of  the  city's  walls  while  the  victori- 
ous riders  of  Harney's  cavalry-troop  pursue  them  even  to  the 
very  gate  of  their  imperiled  capital. 

On  that  twentieth  of  August  the  fate  of  Mexico  was  decided. 
Ten  thousand  Mexicans  were  lost  to  the  Republic  as  killed, 
wounded  or  prisoners ;  of  the  Americans,  less  than  a  thousand 
fell.  Looked  at  as  a  stirring  episode  of  war  it  was  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  and  complete  victories  ever  attained  on 
American  soil.  American  pluck  and  American  discipline  had 
overcome  unorganized  and  ill-led  bravery  in  the  mass. 

Less  than  a  month  later,  despite  the  wily  ways  and  des- 
perate treachery  of  Santa  Anna,  and  after  the  terrible  fights  at 
Molino  del  Rey,  upon  the  storied  hill  of  Chapultepec  and  at 


OVER   THE  MEXICAN  BORDER.  209 

the  gates  of  the  city,  the  capital  fell.  Scott's  little  army  of 
less  than  seven  thousand  men  marched  into  the  fallen  town  and 
Mexico  lay  at  the  feet  of  her  conquerors.  The  war  was  over. 

It  was  a  war  brilliant  in  execution,  dramatic  in  action,  mar- 
velous in  success.  It  was  the  most  picturesque  contest  waged 
on  American  soil  since  the  days  of  the  conquistadores ;  it 
was  crowded  with  excitement,  prolific  of  peril,  tingling  with 
achievement. 

Politically  the  war  against  Mexico  was  a  grave  mistake. 
Waged  for  aggrandizement  and  conquest  against  a  weaker  and 
less  intelligent  neighbor  it  was  a  blot  on  American  justice,  a 
stain  on  American  honor.  The  new  territory  that  it  added  to 
the  United  States  and  which  might  have  been  peacefully  pur- 
chased for  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  cost  the  North  Ameri- 
can Republic  one  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  dollars  and 
twenty  thousand  lives.  Its  very  success  brought  about  section- 
alism and  bickering  and  its  final  fruits  were  the  war  between 
the  States.  It  was,  so  far  as  the  American  people  were  con- 
cerned, a  contest  that  must  ever  recall  the  query  of  little  Peter- 
kin  and  the  reply  of  old  Casper  in  Southey's  well-known  ballad: 


"  '  And  everybody  praised  the  Duke 

Who  this  great  fight  did  win.' 

'  l!ut  what  good  came  of  it  at  last?* 

Quoth  little  Peterkin. 

'  Why,  that  I  cannot  tell,'  said  he, 

4  But  'twas  a  famous  victory.'" 


But  how  few  of  us  regard  the  utilitarian  side  of  a  question 
when  our  ears  are  filled  with  the  sound  of  martial  music,  our 
eyes  fixed  on  the  doing  of  martial  deeds.  Politically  the  war 
against  Mexico  was  a  grave  mistake  ;  popularly  it  was  a  mighty 


2IO 


Ol'ER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 


success.  Against  the  greatest  odds  the  ability  of  the  American 
soldier  had  been  tested  and  his  valor  proven  to  all.  It  trained 
the  citizen  to  warfare  and  afforded  a  school  of  instruction  from 
which  graduated  those  whose  names  in  the  greater  conflict  of 
twenty  years  after  became  as  household  words  in  the  North  and 
South. 

"  The  Mexican  war,"  says  Professor  Soley,  "  showed  few 
mistakes,  because  the  officers  were  well  trained,  and  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence  the  troops  were  in  a  short  time  well  trained 
also.  The  War  of  1812  on  the  American  side  was  a  war  of  ama- 
teurs ;  that  with  Mexico  was  a  war  of  professional  soldiers  and 
strategists." 

It  was  military  skill  as  well  as  personal  valor  that  forced 
the  fighting  at  Palo  Alto,  and  held  the  key  to  the  position  at 
Buena  Vista  ;  that  made  Doniphan's  victorious  march  into 
Chihuahua  —  "as  arduous  and  exacting  of  courage  and  persist- 
ency as  Hannibal's  crossing  the  Appenines;"  that  circumvented 
a  wily  foeman  by  the  detour  through  the  lava  beds  about 
Lake  Chalco  and  directed  the  assault  up  the  rocky  sides  of 
Chapultepec.  The  leaders  in  the  Mexican  war  were  indeed 
no  amateurs. 

And,  despite  the  grumbling  of  such  suppositions  soldiers  as 
Mr.  Lowell's  "  Birdofredum  Sawin  "  there  was  glory  both  for 
general  and  private  from  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  the 
fortresses  of  Vera  Cruz  to  the  passes  of  the  Sierras  and  the 
gates  of  Mexico.  In  every  battle  was  the  prowess  of  the  Amer- 
ican soldier  displayed.  It  was  no  holiday  war —  no  victory  over 
cowards  and  cravens.  The  Americans  accomplished  a  task  in 
their  modern  conquest  of  Mexico  beset  with  greater  difficulties 
than  was  that  of  Cortez  and  his  companions.  The  foemen  they 
encountered,  so  Mr.  Ober  declares,  were  "active  and  intelligent, 


OVER    THE  MEXICAN  BORDER.  211 

equally  well  equipped  and  versed  in  the  science  of  war  with 
themselves ;  the  country  throughout  its  length  and  breadth  was 
alive  with  hatred  of  the  invaders."  Every  battle  was  stub- 
bornly contested.  "  The  Mexicans,"  says  Mr.  Ladd,  "  poured 
out  their  blood  like  water  in  the  defense  of  their  country's 
honor.  But  the  courage  and  perseverance  of  the  Americans 
were  more  than  equal  for  their  desperation  and  patriotism." 

Against  Mexican  bravery  was  pitted  American  valor.  In 
every  action  the  stars  and  stripes  waved  above  gallant  endeavor 
and  dashing  deed.  Blake's  intrepid  reconnoissance  in  face  of 
all  the  foe  at  Palo  Alto ;  May's  marvelous  charge  at  Resaca 
de  la  Palma;  the  stubborn  courage  of  Doniphan's  dauntless 
Missouri  fighters  at  Sacramento ;  the  exploits  of  "  the  Bloody 
First  "  at  Monterey;  O'Brien's  plucky  stand  at  Beuna  Vista; 
Harney's  fearless  climb  up  the  slope  of  Cerro  Gordo ;  Persifal 
Smith's  gallant  capture  of  the  fortified  camp  of  Contreras  (con- 
sidered by  General  Scott  one  of  the  most  brilliant  feats  in  all 
the  annals  of  war);  the  terrific  charge  of  the  Third  Infantry  at 
Cherubusco ;  Mclntosh's  desperate  dash  at  Molino  del  Rey ; 
Howard's  scaling  of  the  walls  of  Chapultepec ;  McKenzie's 
resistless  rush  through  the  San  Cosme  gate  —  these  are  but 
selected  episodes  of  battle  that  had  their  counterparts  in  every 
engagement  of  the  war  and  placed  the  daring  of  the  American 
soldier  on  a  par  with  the  generalship  and  skill  of  the  great 
leaders  in  the  conflict  —  Taylor  and  Kearney,  Scott  and 
Worth  and  those  other  general  officers  whose  names  are  insep- 
arably linked  with  the  records  of  our  war  against  Mexico. 

And  those  who  fell  !  Disease, more  dread  than  lance  thrust 
or  saber  stroke,  than  musket  wound  or  crash  of  booming 
cannon,cut  down  five  to  one  of  those  who  fell  in  battle.  There 
is  no  poetry  in  wasted  bodies  or  ruined  character;  these  find  no 


212  OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER. 

blazoning  line  on  roll  of  bravery  or  certificate  of  honor.  Theirs 
is  the  record  on  the  dark  and  repellent  side  of  war.  Only  the 
heroic  dead  are  honored. 

And  above  all  those  who  fell  in  the  fury  and  carnage  of 
this  expensive  and  unnecessary  war  the  noblest  monument 
reared  by  those  who  honored  them  was  surely  that  stirring 
threnody  of  their  comrade,  the  soldier-poet,  Theodore  O'Hara 
of  Kentucky: 

"The  muffled  drum's  sad  roll  has  beat 

The  soldiers  last  tattoo! 
No  more  on  life's  parade  shall  meet 

That  brave  and  fallen  few. 
On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground 

Their  silent  tents  are  spread 
And  Glory  guards  with  solemn  round 

The  liivouac  of  the  Dead. 

"  No  rumor  of  the  foe's  advance 

Now  swells  upon  the  wind  ; 
No  troubled  thought  at  midnight  haunts 

Of  loved  ones  left  behind  ; 
No  vision  of  the  morrow's  strife 

The  warrior's  dream  alarms  ; 
No  braying  horn,  nor  screaming  fife 

At  dawn  shall  call  to  arms. 

"  The  neighboring  troop,  the  flashing  blade, 

The  bugle's  stirring  blast, 
The  charge,  the  dreadful  cannonade, 

The  din  and  shout  are  past  — 
Nor  war's  wild  note,  nor  glory's  peal, 

Shall  thrill  with  fierce  delight 
Those  breasts  that  nevermore  may  feel 

The  rapture  of  the  fight. 

"Sons  of  the  dark  and  bloody  ground 

Ye  must  not  slumber  there 
Where  stranger  steps  and  tongue  resound 


OVER    THE   MEXICAN  BORDER.  213 

Along  the  heedless  air  , 
Your  own  proud  land's  heroic  soil 

Should  be  your  fitter  grave , 
She  claims  from  war  its  richest  spoil  — 

The  ashes  of  her  brave. 

"  Rest  on,  embalmed  and  sainted  dead  ! 

Dear  as  the  blood  ye  gave ; 
No  impious  footsteps  here  shall  tread 

The  herbage  of  your  grave. 
Nor  shall  your  glory  be  forgot 

While  Fame  her  record  keeps 
Or  Honor  points  the  hallowed  spot 
\\  here  Valor  proudly  sleeps." 


CHAPTER    X. 


HORSE,    FOOT    AND    DRAGOON. 


THE  Mexican  War  was  a  practical  school  of 
the  soldier.  Its  thorough  but  rapid  turning 
of  recruits  into  fighters,  its  forced  marches, 
frequent  engagements,  hard  service  and  dar- 
ing deeds  —  all  in  a  hostile  country  and 
against  heavy  odds  —  tested  the  endurance 
as  it  tried  the  courage  of  men,  while  the 
enthusiasm  of  success  strengthened  the 

O 

weak,  inspired  the  .timid  and  gave  to  every 
man  upon  whose  pistol  belt  gleamed  the 
northern  eagle,  the  manner  and  appearance 
of  the  veteran  soldier. 

The  men  of  Doniphan's  command,  Mis- 
souri volunteers  all,  who  marched  two 
thousand  miles  overland  to  the  invasion 
of  Chihuahua,  saw  nine  months  of  hard  service  before  receiv- 
ing a  dollar  of  pay.  But  as  they  stood  on  Sacramento  Hill, 
twelve  hundred  'and  sixty  weary  men  facing  five  thousand  fresh 
and  determined  Mexicans,  their  leader  rode  from  rank  to  rank. 
"I  could  see  nothing,"  he  says,  "but  the  stern  resolve  to  con- 
quer or  to  die.  There  was  no  trepidation  and  no  pale  faces." 
Half-rations,  hard  marches,  no  clothes  and  no  pay  had  neither 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND  DRAGOON.  215 

conquered  their  determination  nor  dampened  their  valor. 
"  They  curse  and  praise  their  country  in  the  same  breath," 
said  Colonel  Doniphan;  "but  they  fight  for  her  all  the  time!" 

And  the  undaunted  spirit  that  filled  these  overworked 
Missouri  volunteers  and  gave  them  victory  at  Brazito,  Sacra- 
mento, and  Chihuahua  lived  as  well  in  the  breasts  of  all  —  volun- 
teers and  regulars  alike  —  who  made  up  the  victorious  armies  of 
conquest  and  occupation  in  the  Mexican  War. 

To  those  who  imagine  that  the  soldiers  of  the  Mexican 
\Var  were  furnished  by  the  Southern  States  alone,  the  figures 
will  tell  a  different  story.  Of  the  hundred  thousand  fighting 
men  who  marched  across  the  Mexican  border,  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand were  United  States  regulars;  Texas,  naturally,  as  the  sec- 
tion directly  interested  in  the  conflict,  headed  the  roll  of  vol- 
unteers with  eight  thousand  troops;  Louisiana,  as  the  nearest 
neighbor,  came  next  with  nearly  eight  thousand  also ;  but  Illi- 
nois and  Ohio  contributed  quite  as  many  men  as  did  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  ;  New  York  sent  nearly  twice  as  many  as  did 
Virginia;  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  furnished  an  equal 
number;  Pennsylvania  sent  more  than  Mississippi;  Michigan 
more  than  North  Carolina;  New  Jersey  more  than  Florida; 
Indiana  more  than  Georgia,  Maryland  and  Arkansas  combined. 
Despite  the  claim  that  it  was  "  the  Southerners'  war  "  it  was 
the  Nation's  war,  in  which  men  of  the  North  and  the  South 
marched  shoulder  to  shoulder  and  fought  with  equal  bravery  on 
bloody  fields. 

The  war  was  over.  The  volunteers  returned  to  their 
homes.  The  fighting  strength  of  the  regulars,  grown  to  over 
thirty  thousand,  was  reduced  to  a  peace  footing  of  ten  thou- 
sand. Once  again  the  watchword  of  the  nation  was  that  of 
the  good  old  Roman  emperor:  /Equanimitas. 


216  HORSE,    FOOT  AND   DRAGOON. 

If  the  war  against  Mexico,  among  the  numerous  practical 
results  that  it  brought  about  in  the  more  efficient  development 
of  the  school  of  the  soldier,  created  a  stronger  feeling  of  comrad- 
ship  and  union  among  the  officers  and  men  of  the  regular  army 
than  had  before  existed,  it  also  improved  the  condition  and 
soldierly  standing  of  the  militia  engaged  therein  and  sent  the 
volunteers  back  to  their  respective  States  more  thoroughly 
soldiers  than  they  had  ever  been  before. 

A  marked  improvement  in  the  State  soldiery  was  every- 
where apparent  and  the  fuss  and  farce  of  the  old-time  drill  and 
muster-days  gave  place  to  something  like  soldierly  bearing 
and  real  military  organization.  There  was  still  existing  in 
the  tactics  that  directed  the  training  and  evolutions  of  the 
regiments  much  that  was  cumbersome,  old-fashioned  and 
unnecessary.  Hardee's  Tactics  had,  indeed,  superseded  those 
prepared  by  General  Scott  and  which  were  as  involved  and 
unwieldy  as  the  flint-lock  musket  upon  the  use  of  which  this 
old-time  manual  of  arms  was  based.  But  not  all  the  drilling 
was  done  by  Hardee's  tactics — "which  was  nothing  more," 
declares  General  Grant,  "  than  common-sense  and  the  progress 
of  the  age  applied  to  Scott's  system"  -until  well  on  toward 
the  opening  of  the  Civil  War.  In  1855  Hardee's  Tactics  were 
adopted  by  the  Government  as  the  manual  for  West  Point  and 
in  the  regular  army,  but  in  many  of  the  militia  regiments  the 
"halt"  and  "forward  march"  that  preceded  and  followed  every 
change  in  the  order  of  march  showed  that  the  evolutions  of 
those  by-gone  days  of  the  flint-lock  had  not  entirely  lost  their 
sway. 

The  military  academy  at  West  Point,  in  the  mid-years  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  was  increasing  in  importance  and 
acquiring  for  itself  a  wider  and  more  kindly  sentiment  of 


HOXSE,   FOOT  AND   DRAGOON.  217 

popular  respect  than    had    been    its   due    in    the  earlier  stage 
of  its  existence. 

First  suggested  in  1783  by  Colonel  Pickering  the  quarter- 
master-general  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  authorized  by  Con- 
gress in  1794  and  established  in  1802  with  forty  artillery  cadets 
and  ten  engineers,  it  grew  but  slowly  until  the  War  of  1812 
proved  the  incapacity  and  the  lack  of  training  among  the  officers 
of  the  army.  From  that  date  the  school  grew  alike  in  numbers 
and  in  efficiency.  And  yet,  despite  its  real  usefulness,  this 
"  school  for  generals  "  was  esteemed  by  the  people  at  large  as 
little  better  than  an  expensive  toy  that  the  Government  would 
better  do  away  with.  In  fact,  in  December,  1839,  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced into  Congress  looking  to  the  abolishment  of  the  military 
academy.  Though  this  bill  never  passed  the  fact  of  its  being  in- 
troduced is  an  indication  of  that  popular  disapproval  of  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  school  in  a  peaceful  nation  which,  in  a  ruder  way, 
was  illustrated  by  an  anecdote  that  General  Grant  tells  of  his  early 
career.  Returning  after  his  graduation  to  his  home  in  Ohio,  as 
big  a  man,  in  his  own  estimation  as  General  Scott,  the  command- 
er-in-chief  himself,  and  in  all  the  glory  of  a  new  uniform  his 
pride  experienced  a  grievous  fall  through  the  "  humor  "  of  the 
dissipated  stable  man  of  the  village  tavern.  Returning  to  his 
home  one  day  young  Grant,  as  he  tells  us,  found  this  facetious 
stable-man  "  parading  the  streets  of  Bethel  and  attending  to  his 
duties  in  tl\e  stable,  barefooted,  but  in  a  pair  of  sky-blue  nankeen 
pantaloons  —  just  the  color  of  my  uniform  trousers  —  with  a  strip 
of  white  cotton  sheeting  sewed  down  the  outside  seams  in  imita- 
tion of  mine."  It  is  significant,  as  indicative  of  the  popular 
estimation  of  "West  Pointers"  at  that  day  that,  as  General 
Grant  declares,  "  the  joke  was  a  huge  one  in  the  minds  of  many 
of  the  people  and  was  much  enjoyed  by  them."  This  incident 


2I8  HORSE,   FOOT  AND   DRAGOON. 

of  his  "  salad  days  "  had  its  effect  on  all  his  after  life  and  gave 
him,  he  says,  a  distaste  for  military  uniforms  from  which  he 
never  recovered. 

This  antagonism  to  "regular  army"  ways  and  methods 
often  displayed  itself  in  times  of  peace.  There  was,  too,  always 
existing  the  positive,  if  unspoken  feud  born  of  unnecessary  con- 
tempt on  one  side  and  of  equally  unnecessary  jealousy  on  the 
other  between  the  regulars  and  the  militia.  Holding  the  rank 

O  CJ 

of  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army  General  Burnside,  in  1855, 
was  appointed  by  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  major-general  of 
the  State  militia.  In  this  capacity  he  once  ordered  a  court- 
martial  for  the  trial  of  a  commander  of  a  Providence  corps. 
This  doughty  leader,  it  seems,  had  refused  to  occupy  the  place 
in  a  certain  Fourth  of  }uly  procession  to  which  the  General 
had  assigned  him,  alleging  as  the  reason  for  his  non-appearance 
that  the  day  was  rainy  and  that  he  did  not  wish  to  damage  the 
new  uniforms  of  his  men.  But  when  the  court-martial  for  the 
trial  of  this  disobedient  officer  had  been  ordered  the  governor 
of  the  State,  as  commander-in-chief,  interfered  and  dissolved  the 
court.  General  Burnside  promptly  resigned  his  commission  as 
major-general  of  the  State  militia  whereupon  the  State  Legisla- 
ture as  a  rebuke  to  the  "arrogance  "  of  a  regular  army  officer 
elected  as  his  successor  the  very  officer  who  was  to  have  been 
tried  for  disobedience  to  orders.  Far  too  often  have  the 
exigencies  and  expediences  of  politics  interfered  with  military 
discipline  and  success. 

There  are  always  those  in  every  community  who,  in  time  of 
peace  are  ready  to  prepare  for  war.  And  this  is  well.  States- 
men may  see  the  value  and  proclaim  the  necessity  of  an  organ- 
ized militia.  "The  United  States,"  wrote  Washington  in  1793, 
"  ought  not  to  indulge  a  persuasion  that,  contrary  to  the  order 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND   DRAGOON.  219 

of  human  events,  they  will  forever  keep  at  a  distance  those 
painful  appeals  to  arms  with  which  the  history  of  every  other 
nation  abounds.  .  .  .  The  devising  and  establishing  of  a 

o  o 

well-regulated  militia  would  be  a  genuine  source  of  legislative 
honor  and  a  perfect  title  to  public  gratitude."  "  As  the  great- 
est danger  to  liberty,"  said  Franklin,  "  is  from  large  standing 
armies,  it  is  best  to  prevent  them  by  an  effectual  provision  for 
a  good  militia."  "  Whenever  the  militia  comes  to  an  end  or  is 
despised  and  neglected,"  wrote  John  Adams  in  1823,  "  I  shall 
consider  this  Union  dissolved  and  the  liberties  of  North 
America  lost  forever.  National  defense  is  one  of  the  cardinal 
duties  of  a  statesman." 

But  statesmen,  as  a  rule,  are  not  the  real  organizers  of  the 
righting  material  of  a  nation.  Such  work  must  come  from 
those  who  represent  that  outgrowth  of  the  martial  spirit  that, 
even  among  a  people  absorbed  in  trade,  is  ever  asserting  itself. 

The  days  of  peace  that  intervened  between  the  close  of  the 
war  with  Mexico  and  the  opening  of  the  rebellion  exhibited  a 
better  conception  and  a  more  practical  solution  of  the  militia 
problem  than  had  the  earlier  years  of  the  century.  The  old 
days  of  the  "  umbrella  and  cornstalk  militia  "  of  the  village 
muster  and  carousing  "  training  time  "  had  given  place  to  a 
better  discipline.  In  certain  States  the  composition  and 
efficiency  of  the  so-styled  "  crack  "  regiments  gave  real  impor- 
tance to  the  organization  of  what  was  known  as  the  National 

o 

Guard  and  the  countrv,  when  its  time  of  stress  arrived  found 

j  * 

itself  the  possessor  of  a  fair  number  of  trained  soldiers  whose 
schooling  in  arms  could  be  put  to  practical  use  and  who  by 
their  promptness,  their  zeal  and  their  excellence  in  discipline 
really  stood  in  the  gap  and  offered  the  first  successful  barrier 
to  armed  rebellion.  Such  regiments,  to  name  certain  examples, 


22o  HORSE,   FOOT  AND   DRAGOON. 

were  the   Sixth   and   Eighth    Massachusetts   and  the    Seventh 
New  York. 

But,  after  all,  the  little  regular  army  of  the  United  States  - 
amounting  in  1850  to  less  than  twelve  thousand  men  —  was  the 
only  actual  fighting  force  that,  during  the  years  of  peace, 
upheld  the  name  and  kept  alive  the  record  of  the  American 
Soldier.  Commanded  by  Major-General  Winfield  Scott,  a 
veteran  of  three  wars,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  —  "horse, 
foot  and  dragoon"  —  did  much  to  help  in  the  opening  and 
development  of  the  new  lands  that,  with  each  new  year,  were 
becoming  the  homes  of  busy  and  persistent  communities. 

Conveying  emigrant  trains  to  the  widening  West,  garrison- 
ing the  coast-line  and  the  frontier,  fighting  Indians,  escorting 
exploring  expeditions  —  the  life  of  the  American  Soldier  even 
in  "  the  piping  times  of  peace,"  was  by  no  means  the  profitless 
and  lazy  profession  that  so  many  pictured  it. 

The  officers  were,  for  the  most  part,  men  trained  in  the 
military  academy  of  the  nation  to  command  and  care  for  those 
placed  under  their  leadership  and  charge.  They  were,  as 
General  Marcy  assures  us,  "generally  men  of  intelligence  and 
culture,  who  entertained  the  most  exalted  conceptions  of  integ- 
rity and  moral  personal  responsibility." 

That  they  were  brave  on  occasion  the  record  of  many  a 
frontier  fight  will  prove  ;  that  they  were  not  lax  in  discipline 
the  thousand  tales  of  garrison  life  attest-  -  one  post  comman- 
dant might  be  mentioned  whose  police  service  was  so  thorough- 
that  he  has  been  known,  on  discovering  a  quid  of  tobacco  or 
the  stump  of  a  cigar  lying  in  the  walks  on  the  parade  ground, 
to  call  out  a  police  party  of  several  men  with  hand  carts  and 
shovels  to  remove  the  obnoxious  obstructions  ;  that  they  were 
jealous,  each,  of  their  own  individual  arm  of  the  service  and  had 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND  DRAGOON.  221 

an  exalted  opinion  of  their  respective  duties  is  shown  by  the 
anecdote  told  of  General  Bragg  of  the  artillery  and  a  Mexican 
veteran,  who  resigned  from  the  army  in  1856  because  Jefferson 
Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  ordered  him  with  his  battery  to 
the  Indian  country,  as  Bragg  expressed  it,  "to  chase  Indians 
with  six-pounders." 

As  to  the  men  themselves  who  filled  the  ranks  of  the 
slender  army  when  on  a  peace  footing  it  must  be  admitted  that 
they  were  of  "all  sorts  and  conditions."  The  regular  army 
was  the  last  resort  of  those  who,  unsuccessful  or  indolent  in  the 
field  of  active  labor  and  of  business  pursuits,  shirked  the  hot 
fire  of  competition  before  which  men  must  rise  or  fall  by  their 
own  exertions  and  contented  themselves  with  beingf  mere 

O 

musket-bearers,  at  the  beck  and  call  of  their  appointed  leaders. 

Many  good  men,  really  fond  of  the  soldiers'  life,  were  to  be 
found  in  the  ranks,  but  there  was  both  pith  as  well  as  reason  in 
the  excuse  of  an  old  soldier,  put  on  his  defense  for  some  breach 
of  garrison  discipline,  that  the  court  "could  scarcely  expect  to 
find  the  entire  catalogue  of  cardinal  virtues  embodied  in  every 
individual  specimen  of  a  class  of  men  who  only  received  for 
their  services  the  paltry  compensation  of  six  dollars  a  month." 

It  was  a  "paltry  compensation  "  for  what  was  in  the  main  a 
dull  routine.  But  dull  routine  can  be  hard  and  tiring  work. 
Listen  to  this  extract  from  a  soldier's  diary  as,  off  on  New 
Mexican  plains  in  the  year  1854  a  tired  trumpeter  recorded  his 
labors  for  the  day:  "February  ist.  I  commenced  the  day  this 
morning  by  being  orderly  bugler  for  the  commanding  officer, 
and  at  half-past  eight  in  the  morning  attended  guard-mounting ; 
immediately  after,  saddled  up  and  rode  two  miles  and  assisted 
at  digging  a  grave ;  returned  at  half-past  twelve  and  started  again 
at  one  with  the  funeral  procession,  after  which  was  marched 


222 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND  DRAGOON. 


home  ;  dressed  for  evening  parade,  marched  back  again  to  the 
corral  or  stable,  assisted  in  flogging  a  deserter,  came  home,  ate 
supper,  and  here  I  am,  scratching  it  down  in  the  old  journal. 
Some  people  surmise  that  a  soldier's  life  is  a  lazy  one,  but 
soldiers  themselves  think  otherwise." 

It  was  dull  routine,  but  even  out  of  this  comes  sometimes 
brilliant  flashes  of  bravery,  instances  of  duty  doggedly  done 
yet  with  a  persistence  that  amounts  to  heroism.  What  more 
dramatic  than  the  equal  duel  --  man  to  man  and  gun  to  gun  - 
of  Lieutenant  David  Bell  and  White  Wolf  the  Apache  chief, 
each  with  twenty-three  followers?  It  was  during  the  Indian 
troubles  in  New  Mexico  in  the  fifties  and  White  Wolf  had 
been  guilty  of  an  especially  atrocious  outrage  which  Lieu- 
tenant Bell  burned  to  avenge.  Both  parties  met  on  a  scout. 
A  parley  led  only  to  perplexities  and  as  words  were  of  no  avail, 
lieutenant  and  chief,  dragoon  and  brave,  each  picked  out  an 
opponent  and,  man  to  man,  sought  to  fight  it  out.  With  shout 
and  war-whoop,  with  cavalry  charge  and  erratic  Indian  dash,  all 
the  time  giving  shot  for  shot  was  this  duel  by  wholesale  fought 
out;  twenty-one  of  the  forty-six  combatants  were  killed  or 
wounded;  scarcely  a  man  on  either  side  was  without  hurt  of 
some  sort.  At  last  White  Wolf  fell ;  the  remnant  of  his  band 
fled  and  the  duel  was  ended. 

So,  too,  Lieutenant  Hood  with  but  seventeen  men,  ambushed 
by  over  fifty  Lipan  and  Comanche  warriors,  in  those  same  risky 
days  on  the  plains,  showed  both  pluck  and  endurance  that  were 
heroic  in  the  extreme.  Outnumbered,  three  to  one,  he  yet 
encouraged  his  men  to  fight  for  their  lives.  Again  and  again, 
with  ringing  cheers  the  brave  seventeen  charged  the  yelling 
savages  and  mingled  in  a  hand-to-hand  conflict.  The  odcls 
were  against  the  seventeen.  Six  had  already  fallen  beneath  the 


MARCY'S  I'KKII.OUS  MARCH. 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND   DRAGOON.  225 

Indian  fire,  Hood's  saber  arm  hung  useless  at  his  side,  back  and 

b 

still  backward  were  they  pressed,  their  rifles  empty,  their 
strength  almost  spent.  "  Out  with  your  revolvers,  boys," 
shouted  Hood,  courageous  to  the  last;  4;one  more  shot;  we 
mustn't  give  it  up!  "  Inspired  by  his  superb  courage  the  little 
command  turned  on  the  enemy  in  a  fierce  revolver  charge. 
It  was  the  desperate  last  chance  and  so  impetuous  was  it  that 
the  Indians  fell  back,  turned  and  fled.  Then  with  empty  re- 
volvers the  troopers,  leaving  twenty-two  of  their  antagonists 
dead  or  dying  galloped  from  the  field  that  had  well-nigh  been 
their  grave,  victors  over  an  ambuscade  that  it  seemed  impossi- 
ble to  break. 

As  plucky,  too,  though  in  endurance  rather  than  in  des- 
perate fight,  were  the  men  of  Marcy's  command  who,  in  No- 
vember, 1857,  went  westward  from  Fort  Bridger  on  an  expe- 
dition for  exploration  and  relief.  Through  an  almost  trackless 
wilderness,  across  lofty  and  rugged  mountains  they  struggled 
on  in  the  very  depth  of  winter  loyal  to  their  duty  and  striving 
for  results  that  to  them  personally  could  be  of  but  little  value 
or  advantage.  The  snows  grew  deeper  and  deeper ;  the  cold 
became  more  and  more  intense ;  their  horses  and  pack-ani- 
mals starved  and  fell  by  the  way;  supplies  gave  out;  the  suf- 
fering grew  almost  unbearable  and  yet  not  a  man  murmured  or 
complained.  They  had  volunteered  for  this  desperate  service 
and  they  would  keep  their  promise  or  die.  For  fifty-one  days 
the  weary  march  continued.  The  path  through  tbe  snow  could 
only  be  made  to  bear  weight  by  the  efforts  of  the  advance  men 
of  the  party  who  on  hands  and  knees  pressed  and  hardened  the 
treacherous  and  impalpable  mass.  For  the  last  twelve  days  of 
the  march  the  only  food  was  the  tough  "  mule-steak  "  cut  from 
the  starved  beasts  of  burden  and  sprinkled  with  gunpowder  in 


226  HORSE,    FOOT  AND   DXAGOON. 

lieu  of  salt  and  pepper.  "  I  am  indebted,"  wrote  General  Marcy, 
years  after,  "  for  my  existence  at  this  moment  to  the  unpar- 
alleled fortitude,  endurance  and  sufferings  of  a  noble  little  band 
of  soldiers  who  nearly  sacrificed  their  own  lives  to  extricate  me 
from  the  perils  of  a  winter's  journey  over  the  snow-clad  summits 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains." 

Almost  as  full  of  hardships  and  quite  as  eloquent  in  deter- 
mination, pluck  and  a  dogged  perseverance,  was  Colonel  Wash- 
ington's march  to  Sante  Fe  in  1849,  in  which  Lieutenant  Stein 
and  his  company  of  the  Second  Dragoons  fought  against 
Indians,  thirst  and  hunger  on  New  Mexican  deserts  and  "brave 
and  vigilant,  never  murmured,  but  showed  the  noblest  traits  of 
men  and  soldiers."  The  private's  weary  march  and  patient 
round  of  duty  has  often  contained  more  of  romance  and  dis- 

J 

played  more  of  real  valor  than  all  the  momentary  excitement 
of  the  headlong  charge  or  the  fiery  crash  of  battle. 

^y  ^j 

However  hard  was  the  private  soldier's  life  that  of  the  officer 
whom  he  was  bound  to  obey  was  scarcely  easier  because  of  rank 
or  station.  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  paymaster  of  the 
army  from  1849  to  1854,  made  six  annual  tours  of  the  Texas 
frontier  traveling  each  year,  in  rou«h  country  riding,  over  four 

O  J  O  J  O 

thousand  miles.  Lieutenant  William  P.  Sanders,  in  pursuit  of 
deserters,  in  1857,  accompanied  by  but  one  man,  rode  from 
Fort  Crittenden,  Utah,  to  Los  Angeles,  California,  over  a  rugged 
and  dangerous  road,  captured  and  delivered  up  the  deserters 
and  returned  to  Fort  Crittenden,  a  journey  of  sixteen  hundred 
miles,  in  less  than  sixty  days.  Lieutenant  A.  E.  Burnside  in 
1857  rode  with  special  dispatches  twelve  hundred  miles  from 
El  Paso  to  Washington,  facing  and  escaping  all  sorts  of  dan- 
gers and  reaching  Washington  fully  a  month  before  the  civilian 
who  was  his  rival  in  the  race. 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND  DRAGOON.  227 

A  soldier's  first  duty  is  obedience.  The. "  thinking  bayonet  " 
which  was  a  popular  characterization  of  the  intelligent  soldier 
during  the  Great  Rebellion  has  really  no  place  in  the  ranks 
of  those  enlisted  men  known  as  the  regular  army  —  musket 
bearers,  who  must  know  no  duty  but  unquestioning  obedience. 
Whether  the  authority  in  power  ordered  troops  to  put  down 
threatened  insurrection  in  South  Carolina  in  1832,  or  to  guard 
in  Boston  streets  a  fugitive  slave  sent  back  to  his  owners  by 
due  process  of  law  in  1854  the  soldiers  who,  north  or  south,  east 
or  west,  marched  in  the  ranks  of  the  regulars  had  no  business 
to  question  the  orders  of  their  superiors : 

"Theirs  not  to  reason  why, 
Theirs  but  to  do  or  die." 

It  is  this  blindness  to  everything  but  duty,  this  readiness  to 
obey  orders  lead  where  they  may,  that  gives  to  the  "regulars" 
a  certain  assurance  and  stamp  of  real  authority  that  neither 
volunteer  nor  militia-man  can  possess  save  by  long  service  and 
experience.  The  "  regulars  "  are  the  representatives  of  Gov- 
ernment and  the  Law.  Their  measured  tread  and  machine- 
like  discipline  are  able  to  stay  every  wave  of  opposition,  every 
advance  of  warring  factions  and  of  unlawful  organization.  The 
majesty  of  authority  that  attached  to  the  legionaries  of  old 
Rome  has  been  the  attribute  of  every  regular  army  from  ancient 
times  even  to  the  present  day. 

This,  so  far  as  the  United  States  Army  is  concerned,  was 
especially  noticeable  in  the  unhappy  days  of  the  Kansas 
troubles  of  1856,  when  the  new  State,  torn  by  civil  feud  and 
rent  by  the  strife  for  possession  waged  by  "  Free  Soilers  "  and 
"  Pro-Slavery  men,"  became  the  scene  of  disorder,  of  outrage 
and  of  blood.  The  appearance  of  the  United  States  Regulars 


2 28  HORSE,    FOOT  AND   DRAGOON. 

dispatched  to  the  disturbed  sections  could  always  stay  the 
fratricidal  strife  and  establish  law  and  order  where  none  before 
existed.  General  Cooke  in  his  reminiscences  of  army  life  at 
that  time  says :  "  It  was  part  of  the  education  of  both  parties 
that  they  still  respected  national  authority.  There  was  but  one 
flag  yet.  At  Lecompton  I  rode  alone  —  leaving  my  forces  far 
behind — in  front  of  an  army  of  thousands,  who  with  cannon- 
matches  lighted,  were  about  to  attack  that  territorial  capitol, 
and  ordered  them  to  retire,  and  the  nation's  representative  was 
obeyed.  The  Second  Dragoons  were  prominent  in  these  im- 
portant services,  but  with  them  were  the  First  Cavalry,  the 
Sixth  Infantry  and  a  battery  of  the  Fourth  Artillery.  This 
force  was  afterward  interposed  between  a  regularly  organized 
army  of  twenty-seven  hundred  men  and  the  town  of  Lawrence 
which  they  had  marched  to  attack." 

The  time  came  when  rebellion  rose  above  authority,  and 
neither  regular  army  nor  national  government  had  power  to 
stay  the  tide  of  civil  war.  Hut  when  that  day  came  many  of 
those  whose  position  gave  strength  and  form  to  the  army  of 
the  United  States  themselves  deserted  their  post  and  were  false 
to  their  oaths  of  allegiance.  And  when  leaders  fall  away  how 
can  the  army  maintain  itself  intact?  It  is  said  that  General 

J 

Sherman,  who,  when  the  rebellion  broke  out,  was  the  super- 
intendent of  the  Louisiana  Military  Academy  recognized 
months  afterwards  in  the  prisoners  taken  in  war  most  of  the 
cadets  of  his  institution  who  when  the  conflict  came  hastened  to 
enlist  in  the  Confederate  army.  So,  too,  West  Point  men  and 
brother  officers  of  the  regular  army  found  themselves  divided 
by  questions  of  duty  and  of  loyalty  and  met  as  enemies  on 
bloody  fields  in  the  stubborn  battles  of  the  Civil  War. 

For  that  desperate  hour,  indeed,  officers  and   men   through 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND  DRAGOON.  229 

all  the  years  that  intervened  between  the  Mexican  War  and 
the  attack  on  Sumter  were  all  unconsciously  preparing.  The 
military  incidents  of  these  days  of  peace  were  but  few  and  far 
between,  but  the  efficiency  and  discipline  that  were  displayed 
by  the  small  standing  army  of  the  United  States  (never  in  all 
those  years  exceeding  twelve  thousand  men),  by  certain  of  the 
militia  regiments  of  the  National  Guard  and  by  such  superbly- 
drilled  private  organizations  as  Ellsworth's  Zouaves  all  bore 
fruit  when  the  call  to  arms  rang  out  in  the  opening  days  of  the 
Great  Rebellion. 

There  were  certain  uneasy  Americans  who  were  anxious  for 
excitement  or  ambitious  for  gain  and  so  made  haste  to  join 
themselves  to  the  filibustering  expeditions  of  Lopez  the  Span- 
iard and  of  William  Walker  the  American  (that  "  gray-eyed 
man  of  destiny"  who  fell  a  victim  to  his  own  unlawful  schemes). 
They  all  met  at  last  with  defeat,  but  even  in  this  lawless  adven- 
turing they  were  but  schooling  themselves  for  the  days  of  real 
war  that  were  coming  on  apace.  The  militia-men  who  responded 
to  the  call  to  put  down  riot  in  New  York  City  in  1849  and  in 
Kansas  in  1856  were  quick  to  respond  to  the  call  for  more  seri- 
ous duty  when  the  iron  hail  rattled  against  the  walls  of  Sumter. 

And  on  Western  plains  the  brave  regulars  who  penetrated 
untrodden  wildernesses  and  braved  hunger  and  thirst,  weariness 
and  cold  for  the  punishment  of  restless  Indians  or  the  exten- 
sion of  the  governmental  authority  acquired  a  steadiness  and 
a  nerve  that  were  to  serve  them  well  when  the  War  Depart- 
ment at  last  ordered  them  to  act  as  the  nucleus  of  the  nation's 
defenders  in  a  war  that  was  to  lift  the  American  soldier,  North, 
as  well  as  South,  to  the  foremost  position  among  the  fighting- 
men  of  the  world. 

"  Horse,  foot  and  dragoon  "  alike  were  being  schooled  for 


2 3o  HORSE,    FOOT  AND   DRAGOON. 

greater  and  more  serious  service.  The  dull  routine  of  camp 
life  and  of  garrison  duty,  -the  countless  ways  in  which  officers 
and  men  sought  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  monotony  and  manu- 
facture excitement  out  of  unpromising  surroundings  were  soon 
to  be  exchanged  for  active  service  and  stirring  times.  But  of 
these  neither  militia-man  nor  regular  yet  dreamed.  The  one 
like  the  sober  business  man  he  was,  stood  behind  his  counter  or 
sat  at  his  desk  thinking  more  of  dollars  than  of  rifle  and  saber; 
the  other  in  sea-coast  garrison  or  in  frontier  post  lived  careless 
of  the  future,  weary  only  of  the  present;  or  perhaps,  off  on  a 
scout  in  the  far  Indian  country  he  slept  serenely  with  his  holsters 
as  his  pillow  and  the  sky  as  his  tent  cover,  ready  to  spring  to 
arms  when  the  summons  came.  With  pride  in  his  horse,  his 
uniform  and  his  accoutrements  he  could  sing  with  ringing  and 
sturdy  notes  this  song  of  "  The  Light  Dragoons,"  written  by 
one  of  his  comrades  :  * 

"  Good  cheer,  my  steed ! 

Let  thy  headlong  speed 
Dash  the  dew  from  the  prairie  grass. 

Shrink  not,  in  the  track, 

Let  the  hills  fall  back 
As  the  ranks  of  our  squadron  pass. 

"  At  the  fall  of  night, 

In  the  gray  twilight, 
When  I've  combed  thy  tangled  mane, 

'Xeath  the  light  of  the  moon 

Then  the  light  dragoon 
Will  lie  down  by  his  steed  again. 

"  When  sleep  is  done, 
And  the  rising  sun 
Shall  have  burnished  thy  glossy  hair, 

*  Lieutenant  L.  P.  Davidson ;  an  officer  of  the  First  U.  S.  Dragoons. 


HORSE,   FOOT  AND  DRAGOON.  231 

To  horse  again 
And  we'll  scour  the  plain 
And  beat  up  the  red-man's  lair." 

And  after  each  verse,  with  a  boisterous  energy  that  would 
set  the  echoes  ringing  through  all  those  western  hills,  his 
comrades  would  roll  out  the  chorus  : 


Then  up,  my  steed  ! 

The  wind's  wild  speed 
Is  but  slow  to  thy  headlong  flight ; 

And  we'll  rein  up  soon, 

And  the  light  dragoon 
With  his  charger  shall  sleep  to-night. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


HOYS      OF        S I  X  T  Y - O  N  E . 


O  the  States  arrayed  against 
the  national  authority,  the 
greatest  of  American  presi- 
dents said  in  his  first  in- 
augural, "  in  your  hands, 
my  dissatisfied  fellow-coun- 
trymen, and  not  in  mine 
is  the  momentous  issue  of 
civil  war.  The  Govern- 
ment will  not  assail  you. 
You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the 
aggressors." 

All  too  soon  did  Abraham  Lincoln  receive  the  answer  to 
his  message  of  kindly  forbearance.  And  when,  at  half-past 
four  o'clock  on  that  dark  and  raw  April  morning  in  iS6i  that 
answer  came  in  -the  shot  that  went  hurtling  over  the  water 
toward  the  dimly-outlined  ramparts  of  beleagured  Sumter  all 
men  knew  its  import.  Civil  war  had  begun. 

The  result  of  that  bombardment  of  a  national  fortress  by 
the  nation's  recreant  sons  proved  vastly  different  from  the 
popular  prophecies.  There  was  but  one  uprising  in  the  North, 
but  one  in  the  South.  The  armed  protests  against  war  which, 


£OYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  233 

so  it  was  conjectured,  would  be  made  both  North  and  South 
failed  to  materialize.  There  was  no  attempt  at  coercion  in 
favor  of  union  in  the  South,  none  in  favor  of  secession  in  the 
North.  "The  Union  forever!"  and  "Hurrah  for  Liberty!" 
were  the  only  shouts  that  rallied  young  patriots  in  the  North 
and  young  rebels  in  the  South  around  the  tables  of  the  recruit- 
ing sergeants. 

Enthusiasm  is  contagious.  Of  it  great  enterprises  are 
born,  from  it  great  achievements  gain  their  noblest  impulses. 
Hut  unorganized  enthusiasm  is  of  no  lasting  value ;  men  must 
be  molded  as  well  as  inspired  if  results  are  to  be  attained. 

When,  the  day  after  Sumter,  President  Lincoln's  call  for 
seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  came  as  an  appeal  for  instant 
succor,  twice  that  number  of  Northern  men  clamored  to  be  led 
against  the  nation's  foes.  In  response  to  the  call  for  fifty 
thousand  troops  to  make  good  the  assertions  of  the  new  "  Con- 
federacy "  over  three  hundred  thousand  men  were  offered  by 
the  South.  Sixteen  Northern  States  and  seven  Southern  ones 
in  that  historic  spring  of  1861  stood  facing  each  other  in  the 
attitude  of  war.  Hut  neither  the  North  nor  the  South  was 
prepared  for  the  conflict.  Arms  and  appointments  were  lack- 
ing. The  recruits  who  were  accepted  were  raw,  undisciplined 
and  inexperienced.  In  the  first  great  clash  of  arms  at  Bull 
Run  the  forces  of  disorganization  met  and  men  awoke  to  the 
knowledge,  dearly  bought,  of  how  valueless  for  real  results  is 
enthusiasm  alone.  Defeated  in  that  bloody  encounter  the 
North  was  still  the  greater  gainer,  for  Bull  Run  was  a  deeper 
disaster  to  the  Confederate  than  to  the  Union  forces.  By  it, 
the  latter  were  stiffened  into  determined  action,  the  former, 
lulled  by  false  hopes,  relaxed  the  vigor  their  desperate  for- 
tunes needed. 


234  BOYS    OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

Brought  face  to  face  with  stern  and  sudden  need  the  nation 

o 

learned  its  own  incompetency.  The  slender  regular  army, 
upon  which  it  should  have  relied  until  its  reserve  fighting 
force  could  be  gathered  for  the  master-stroke,  was  scattered  far 
and  wide,  deliberately  dismembered  by  the  shrewd  treachery  of 
the  traitorous  war-secretary  Floyd.  On  the  fifth  of  April, 
1 86 1,  less  than  four  hundred  out  of  the  seventeen  thousand 
troops  who  constituted  the  regular  army  were  available  for  the 
defense  of  Washington.  The  rest  were  distributed  throughout 

O  O 

the  entire  country  with  but  imperfect  facilities  to  bring  them 
to  the  threatened  Capitol.  This  distribution,  according  to 
General  Scott's  detailed  report,  was  as  follows:  Department 
of  the  East,  3894;  Department  of  the  West,  3584;  Department 
of  Texas,  2258;  Department  of  New  Mexico,  2624;  Depart- 
ment of  Utah,  685  ;  Department  of  the  Pacific,  3382  ;  miscel- 
laneous, 686;  grand  total,  officers  and  men,  17,113. 

And  upon  these,  even  if  available,  who  could  rely?  It  was 
a  time  for  breaking  faith.  Men,  educated  at  Government  ex- 
pense, were  proving  recreant  to  their  oaths  of  fealty  and  desert- 
ing the  flag  they  had  sworn  to  defend.  Twiggs,  a  veteran  fighter 
of  the  Mexican  War,  treacherously  surrendered  his  entire 
command,  the  Department  of  Texas  (nineteen  army  posts  in  all 
together  with  twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars  worth  of  mili- 
tary property),  to  the  authorities  of  that  far-off  State.  Even 
the  sole  safeguard  of  the  imperilled  nation  seemed  slipping 
away. 

And  yet  there  was  loyalty  in  the  regular  army  worthy  of 
eternal  remembrance.  The  ranks  were  faithful  though  their 

O 

leaders  might  prove  false.  It  is  asserted  that  there  were, 
in  1 86 1,  military  posts  abandoned  by  all  the  commissioned 
officers,  of  which  not  one  of  the  enlisted  men  proved  untrue. 


HOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 


235 


The  regulars  surrendered  by  Twiggs  in  Texas,  threatened  to 
kill  any  man  who  attempted  to  disarm  them  and  marched 
away  with  the  stained  and  bullet-torn  old  flag  of  the  Eighth 


C.OOD-HY. 


Regiment  streaming  above  them  while  their  band  played  na- 
tional airs. 

And    against    the    hesitating    disloyalty    of    such     notable 
leaders  as  Lee  and  the  two  Johnstons  there  shone  brightly  out 


236  BOYS    OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

the  unwavering  fidelity  of  others,  also  Southern  born,  to  whom 
loyalty  to  the  old  flag  and  fealty  to  their  plighted  word  were 
paramount  to  the  fictitious  claims  of  any  rebellious  State.  "  I 
am  a  Southern  man,"  said  Major  Robert  Anderson,  the  hero  of 
Sumter,  "  but  I  have  been  assigned  to  the  defense  of  Charles- 
ton Harbor,  and  I  intend  to  defend  it."  And  Winfield  Scott, 
the  o-eneral  of  the  armv,  the  veteran  of  many  a  fio'ht,  when 

o  J  J 

ur^ed  to  "  follow  his  State  "  unhesitatingly  declared :  "  Such  a 
proposal  is  a  mortal  insult.  I  have  served  my  country  under 
the  flag  of  the  Union  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  as  long  as 
God  permits  me  to  live  I  will  defend  that  flag  with  my  sword, 
even  if  my  own  native  State  assails  it." 

But  if  the   regulars   could   not   be   made   at   once   available 

O 

their  place  was  made  good  by  those  next  to  them  in  efficiency 
and  discipline.  The  uniformed  militia  were  quick  to  respond. 
Within  forty-eight  hours  after  the  President  had  issued  his  call 
for  troops  the  Sixth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  was  on  its  way 
to  Washington,  and,  before  another  forty-eight  hours  had  passed, 
had  dyed  the  stones  of  Baltimore  with  the  first  blood  of  the 

J 

civil  war. 

Hard  behind  them  pressed  the  New  York  Seventh  and  the 
Massachusetts  Eighth.  Other  regiments  followed  fast.  The 
beleaguered  capital  was  saved.  So  surely  can  discipline  conquer 
doubt.  For  it  is  said  that  as  the  New  York  Seventh  marched 
up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  on  their  way  to  the  White  House, 
"with  their  well-formed  ranks,  their  exact  military  step,  their 
soldierly  bearing,  their  gayly  floating  flags,  and  the  inspiring 
music  of  their  splendid  regimental  band,  they  seemed  to  sweep 
all  thought  of  danger  and  all  taint  of  treason  not  only  out  of 
that  great  national  thoroughfare,  but  out  of  every  human 
heart  in  the  Federal  city.  The  presence  of  this  single  regi- 


13OYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  237 

ment  seemed  to  turn  the  scales  of  fate.  Cheer  upon  cheer 
greeted  them,  windows  were  thrown  up,  houses  opened,  the 
population  came  forth  upon  the  streets  as  for  a  holiday.  It  was 
an  epoch  in  American  history.  For  the  first  time,  the  com- 
bined spirit  and  power  of  Liberty  entered  the  nation's 
capital."  * 

Recruiting  went  on  rapidly.  New  regiments  were  commis- 
sioned with  marvelous  speed.  Volunteers  poured  into  Wash- 
ington at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  a  day.  The  whole  loyal 
North  was  on  fire.  Such  incidents  as  the  first  shot  against 
Sumter,  the  attack  on  the  Massachusetts  Sixth  in  Baltimore, 
and  the  famous  order  of  General  Dix:  "  If  any  man  attempt 
to  haul  down  the  American  flag  shoot  him  on  the  spot ! "  were 
the  strongest  incentives  to  patriotism.  In  teeming  city,  and 
bustling  village,  in  gossipy  cross-road  store  and  in  the  quiet 
farmhouse  on  western  prairie  and  eastern  hillside,  the  stout 
young  fellows  who  were  not  carried  away  with  the  hurrah  of 
enthusiasm  felt  keenly,  as  one  private  expressed  it,  that  he 
should  have  to  go  at  last  or  forfeit  his  birthright  as  an  Ameri- 
can citizen.  War  was  in  the  air.  The  labors  of  peaceful  life 
were  neglected.  The  citizen-soldier  was  awaking  to  a  sense 
of  his  duty. 

A  city  of  tents  sprang  up  along  the  Potomac.  Soldiers 
were  everywhere.  They  came  from  every  Northern  State,  their 
speech  "  bewraying  "  them,  as  it  did  the  men  of  Galilee.  Yankee 
and  Hoosier,  Knickerbocker  and  Buckeye,  Green  Mountain 
boy  and  men  of  the  prairies  and  the  lakes  they  were  comrades 
in  camp,  brothers  in  effort  and  duty.  They  were  of  all  stages 
of  greenness  and  all  grades  of  efficiency  from  the  raw  recruit 
who  scarcely  knew  the  "  right  face !  "  from  the  "  shoulder 

•  Nicolay  &  Hay:  "  Abraham  Lincoln.     A  History." 


238  SOYS    OF  'SIXTY-OATE. 

arms!"  and  the  equally  fresh  captain  who  would  command  his 
company  to  "  Gee  around  that  hole  !  "  to  the  crack  militia-man 
or  the  veteran  Indian  fighter,  the  \Yest  Point  graduate  and  the 
dignified  general  of  division. 

Eternal  drilling  is  the  price  of  discipline.  It  must  come 
before  advance  or  victory  but  it  is  tedious  work  to  the  enthu- 
siastic soldier  whose  one  desire  is  a  chance  to  display  his  valor. 
"There  are  some  things,"  says  Private  Goss  remembering  those 
first  days  of  preparation,  "that  take  down  even  excess  of  patriot- 
ism. The  musket  after  an  hour's  drill  seemed  heavier  and  less 
ornamental  than  it  had  looked  to  be.  It  takes  a  raw  recruit 
some  time  to  learn  that  he  is  not  to  think  or  suggest,  but  obey. 
Some  never  do  learn.  I  doubt  if  my  patriotism  during  my  first 
three  weeks'  drill  was  quite  knee-high." 

But  true  patriotism  outlives  the  drudgery  of  drill  even  as  it 
burns  high  and  clear  before  the  supreme  act  of  enlistment. 
And  how  high  and  clear  that  flame  did  burn,  the  silent  records 
of  many  a  Northern  home  could  well  attest.  The  young  blood 
of  the  nation  was  surgfinsf  toward  the  field  of  action,  too  hot  to 

o       o 

be  cooled  by  thought  of  drudgery,  too  rapid  to  be  stayed  by 
plea  or  threat  or  any  home  restriction.  The  opening  months 
of  that  first  war  summer,  when  men  were  seeking  the  recruiting 

o  o 

office  or  steadily  pressing  southward  were  among  the  most 
dramatic  phases  of  the  nation's  stirring  story.  One  of  the 
noblest  of  the  many  noble  war  poems*  has  grandly  caught  and 
kept  the  inspiration  : 

"The  drum's  wild  roll  awakes  the  land,  the  fife  is  calling  shrill; 
Ten  thousand  starry  banners  blaze  on  town  and  bay  and  hill; 
Our  crowded  streets  are  throbbing  with  the  soldiers'  measured  tram]); 
Among  our  bladed  cornfields  gleam  the  white  tents  of  the  camp, 

*  A  poem  by  Klbridge  Jefferson  Cutler  read  before  the  Pin  lieta  Knpp.1  Society  of  Harvard  College  in  iS6i. 


BOYS   OF  J SIXTY-ONE.  239 

The  thunders  of  the  rising  war  hush  Labor's  drowsy  hum, 
And  heavy  to  the  ground  the  first  dark  drops  of  battle  come; 
The  souls  of  men  flame  up  anew,  the  narrow  heart  expands, 
And  woman  brings  her  patient  faith  to  nerve  her  eager  hands. 
Thank  God !  we  are  not  buried  yet,  though  long  in  trance  we  lay  — 
Thank  Clod  !  the  fathers  need  not  blush  to  own  their  sons  to-day  ! 

"  Oh  !  sad  and  slow  the  weeks  went  by  —  each  held  his  anxious  breath, 

Like  one  who  waits  in  helpless  fear  some  sorrow  great  as  death. 

Oh!  scarcely  was  there  faith  in  God,  nor  any  trust  in  man, 

While  fast  along  the  southern  sky  the  blighting  shadow  ran. 

It  veiled  the  stars  one  after  one,  it  hushed  the  patriot's  song, 

And  stole  from  men  the  sacred  sense  that  parteth  right  and  wrong ; 

Then  a  red  flash,  like  lightning,  across  the  darkness  broke. 

And,  with  a  voice  that  shook  the  land,  the  guns  of  Sumter  spoke  : 

Wake,  sons  of  heroes,  wake !  the  age  of  heroes  dawns  again, 

Truth  takes  in  hand  her  ancient  sword  and  calls  her  loyal  men, 

IM,  brightly  o'er  the  breaking  day  shines  Freedom's  holy  star! 

Peace  cannot  cure  the  sickly  time  — all  hail  the  healer,  War ! 

"That  call  was  heard  by  Plymouth  Rock,  'twas  heard  in  Boston  Bay; 

Then  up  the  piney  streams  of  Maine  sped  on  its  ringing  way, 

N?ew  Hampshire's  rocks,  Vermont's  green  hills,  it  kindled  into  flame, 

Rhode  Island  felt  her  mighty  :.oul  bursting  her  little  frame. 

The  Kmpire  City  started  up,  her  golden  fetters  rent, 

And  meteor-like  across  the  Xorth  the  fiery  message  sent, 

Over  the  breezy  prairie  lands  by  bluff  and  lake  it  ran, 

Till  Kansas  bent  his  arm,  and  laughed  to  find  himself  a  man. 

Then  on  by  cabin  and  by  camp,  by  stony  wastes  and  sands, 

It  rang  exultant  down  the  sea,  where  the  golden  city  stands. 


"  And  wheresoe'er  the  summons  came  there  rose  an  angry  din, 

As  when  upon  a  rocky  coast  a  stormy  tide  comes  in. 

Straightway  the  fathers  gathered  voice,  straightway  the  sons  arose, 

With  flushing  cheek,  as  when  the  East  with  day's  red  current  glows. 

Hurrah  !  the  long  despair  is  past,  our  fading  hopes  renew, 

The  fog  is  lifting  from  the  land,  and  lo,  the  ancient  blue! 

We  learn  the  secrets  of  the  deeds  the  sires  have  handed  down, 

To  fire  the  youthful  soldier's  zeal  and  tend  his  green  renown. 

Who  lives  for  country,  though  his  arm  feels  all  her  forces  flow, 

Tis  easy  to  be  brave  for  truth  as  for  the  rose  to  blow. 


240  BOYS    OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

"O  Law,  fair  form  of  Liberty,  God's  light  is  on  thy  brow, 

O  Liberty,  thou  soul  of  Law,  God's  very  self  art  thou ! 

One,  the  clear  river's  sparkling  flood,  that  clothes  the  bank  with  green, 

And  one,  the  line  of  stubborn  rock  that  holds  the  water  in ; 

Friends  whom  we  cannot  think  apart,  seeming  each  other's  foe, 

Twin  flowers  upon  a  single  stalk,  with  equal  grace  that  grow ; 

O,  fair  ideas  !  we  write  your  names  across  our  banner's  fold, 

For  you  the  sluggard's  brain  is  fire,  for  you  the  coward  bold  ; 

O,  daughter  of  the  bleeding  past !  O,  hope  the  prophets  saw! 

God  give  us  Law  in  Liberty,  and  Liberty  in  Law  ! 

"  Full  many  a  heart  is  aching  with  mingled  joy  and  pain, 

For  those  who  go  so  proudly  forth  and  may  not  come  again  ; 

And  many  a  heart  is  aching  for  them  it  leaves  behind, 

As  a  thousand  tender  histories  throng  in  upon  the  mind  ; 

The  old  men  bless  the  young  men,  and  praise  their  bearing  high, 

The  women  in  the  doorways  stand  to  wave  them  bravely  by  : 

One  threw  her  arms  about  her  boy  and  said,  '  Good-by,  my  son, 

God  help  thee  do  the  valiant  deeds  thy  father  would  have  done ! ' 

One  held  up  to  a  bearded  man  a  little  child  to  kiss, 

And  said,  '  I  shall  not  be  alone,  for  thv  dear  love  and   this.' 

And  one,  a  rosebud  in  her  hand,  leant  at  a  soldier's  side, 

'Thv  country  needs  thee  first,'  she  said,  'be  I  thy  second  bride!' 

"O,  mothers,  when  around  your  hearths  ye  count  your  cherished  ones, 

And  miss  from  the  enchanted  ring  the  flower  of  all  your  sons; 

O,  wives,  when  o'er  the  cradled  child  ye  bend  at  evening's  fall. 

And  voices  which  the  heart  can  hear  across  the  distance  call  , 

O,  maids,  when  in  the  sleepless  nights  ye  ope'  the  little  case, 

And  look  till  ye  can  look  no  more  upon  the  proud  young  face, 

Not  only  pray  the  Lord  of  Life  who  measures  mortal  breath. 

To  bring  the  absent  back  unscathed  out  of  the  fire  of  death  : 

O,  pray  with  that  divine  content  which  God's  best  favor  draws, 

That  whosoever  lives  or  dies  He  save  His  holy  cause. 

"  So  out  of  shop  and  farmhouse,  from  shore  and  inland  glen, 

Thick  as  the  bees  in  clover  time  are  swarming  armed  men; 

Along  the  dusty  roads  in  haste  the  eager  columns  come, 

With  flash  of  sword  and  muskets'  gleam,  the  bugle  and  the  drum; 

Ho!  comrades,  see  the  starry  flag  broad-waving  at  our  head, 

Ho!  comrades,  mark  the  tender  light  on  the  dear  emblems  spread! 


OUR    IIROTHF.R   THE    ENEMY. 


BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  243 

Our  fathers'  blood  has  hallowed  it,  'tis  part  of  their  renown, 
And  palsied  be  the  caitiff  hand  would  pluck  its  glories  down ; 
Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  it  is  our  home  where'er  thy  colors  fly, 
\Ve  win  with  thce  the  victory,  or  in  thy  shadow  die  ! 

"  O,  women,  drive  the  rattling  loom,  and  gather  in  the  hay, 

For  all  the  youth,  worth  love  and  truth,  are  marshaled  for  the  fray ; 

Southward  the  hosts  are  hurrying,  with  banners  wide  unfurled, 

From  where  the  stately  Hudson  floats  the  wealth  of  half  the  world  ; 

From  where  amid  his  clustered  isles  Lake  Huron's  waters  gleam. 

From  where  the  Mississippi  pours  an  unpolluted  stream  ; 

From  where  Kentucky's  fields  of  corn  bend  in  the  southern  air, 

From  broad  Ohio's  luscious  vines,  from  Jersey's  orchards  fair; 

From  where,  between  his  fertile  slope;.,  Nebraska's  rivers  run. 

From  Pennsylvania's  iron  hills,  from  woody  Oregon; 

And  Ma>sachu>etts  led  the  van,  as  in  the  days  of  yore. 

And  gave  her  reddest  blood  to  cleanse  the  stones  of  Baltimore. 

"O,  iiu>ther>>,  skiers,  daughters,  spare  the  tears  ye  fain  would  shed, 

Who  seem  to  die  in  such  a  cause,  ye  cannot  call  them  dead  ; 

They  live  upon  the  lips  of  men.  in  picture,  bust  and  song. 

And  Nature  fold>  them  in  her  heart,  and  keeps  them  safe  from  wrong. 

O,  length  of  days  i>  not  a  Ixwm  the  brave  man  prayeth  for. 

There  are  a  thousand  evils  wqrse  than  death  or  any  war ; 

Oppression  with  his  iron  strength  fed  on  the  souls  of  men. 

And  License  with  the  hungry  brood  that  haunt  his  ghastly  den; 

Hut  like  bright  stars  ye  fill  the  eye,  adoring  hearts  ye  draw, 

O  sacred  grace  of   Liberty  '  O  majesty  of  Law  ' 

"  Hurrah  !  the  drums  are  beating,  the  fife  is  calling  shrill, 
Ten  thousand  starry  banners  flame  on  town,  and  bay,  and  hill ; 
The  thunders  of  the  rising  war  drown  Labor's  peaceful  hum, 
Thank  (lod  that  we  have  lived  to  see  the  saffron  morning  come. 
The  morning  of  the  battle-call,  to  even-  soldier  dear, 
O  joy !  the  cry  is  "  Forward  !  "  O  joy !  the  foe  is  near  ! 
For  all  the  crafty  men  of  peace  have  failed  to  purge  the  land, 
Hurrah!  the  ranks  of  battle  close,  God  takes  his  cause  in  hand.'' 

Who,  now  living,  that  remembers  those  stirring  days  of 
'sixty-one  would  forego  the  recollection  ?  It  was  a  time  of 
intense  excitement,  North  and  South  alike  —  of  flag-raising  in 


244  BOYS    OF  ' 

every  town  and  debate  and  decision  in  every  home  ;  of  eloquent 
appeals  to  patriotism  in  pulpit  and  on  stump;  of  drilling  on 
every  village  common  ;  of  tenders  af  troops  from  every  State 
capital;  of  warlike  preparations  in  every  city  ;  of  hurried  orders 
for  war  material  in  workshop  and  foundry  ;  of  daily  parades  ;  of 
flag-presentations  ;  of  soul-stirring  songs  and  ringing  cheers  at 
every  patriotic  utterance  ;  of  quick  action  ;  of  tearful  partings  ; 
of  hurried  ^ood-bves ;  of  tear-wruns:  God  bless  vous  ;  of  ne^- 

O  ^  *->  *  O 

lected  private  business  ;  of  eternally  rolling  drums  and  endlessly 
marching  regiments  ;  of  lint-scraping  and  bandage-tearing;  of 
excitement,  enthusiasm  and  stern  determination  everywhere. 
Drake  DeKay,  a  fervid  and  practical  young  patriot,  stirred  by 
the  President's  call,  closed  his  shipping  office  in  New  York  with 
no  more  ceremony  than  to  pin  this  notice  on  his  door  :  "  Gone 
to  Washington.  Back  at  close  of  war."  The  youth  of  the 
South  frenzied  with  an  even  intenser  excitement  clamored  to  be 
led  against  "the  mud-sills  of  the  North."  The  land  was  mad 
for  war,  crazed  with  enthusiasm,  *and  men  on  either  side  the 
line  marked  by  the  doubtful  border  States,  felt  each  that  they 
alone  were  right  and  echoed  the  poet's  cry  : 

"  For  all  the  crafty  men  of  peace  have  failed  to  purge  the  land, 
Hurrah  !  the  ranks  of  battle  close  ;  Cod  takes  his  cause  in  hand." 

There  were  many  impatient  souls  that  as  the  spring  grew 
to  summer  felt  that  Providence  "took  his  cause  in  hand''  all 
too  slowly,  there  were  many  trusting  hearts  that  could  not 
fathom  why  action  did  not  follow  enthusiasm  and  push  the  war 
to  an  instant  conclusion.  The  murder  of  the  gallant  Ellsworth, 
the  heroic  death  at  Big  Bethel  of  Grcble  the  young  West 
Pointer  and  of  Winthrop,  the  brilliant  writer,  were  not,  it 
seemed,  quickly  avenged.  And  so  out  of  impatience  and  desire 


BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  245 

came  the  mad  demand  of  those  who  waited  and  watched  at 
home:  "Onto  Richmond!"  .Americans  are  always  prone  to 
rebel  at  the  old  adage  that  bids  us  "  make  haste  slowly."  Presi- 
dent and  cabinet,  military  leaders  and  advisers  yielded  to  the 
unwise  demand  of  the  people.  Bull  Run  was  fought  against 
the  better  judgment  of  those  who  should  have  delayed  the 
hostile  meeting — it  was  fought  and  the  North,  in  bitter  humil- 
iation, saw  its  legions  streaming  back  to  the  capital,  routed  and 
panic-stricken. 

Said  General  Scott,  worn  out  with  worry  and  the  criticism 
that  follows  failure:  "  I  am  the  greatest  coward  in  America,  sir. 
I  will  prove  it.  I  have  fought  this  battle  against  my  judgment; 
I  think  the  President  of  the  United  States  ought  to  remove  me 
to-day  for  doing  it.  As  God  is  my  judge,  after  my  superiors 
had  determined  to  fight  it  I  did  all  in  my  power  to  make  the 
army  efficient.  I  deserve  removal  because  I  did  not  stand  up, 
when  my  army  was  not  in  a  condition  for  fighting,  and  resist 
it  to  the  last." 

Hull  Run  tried  the  temper  as  it  strengthened  the  will  of  the 
North ;  it  exaggerated  the  valor  as  it  disorganized  the  caution 
of  the  South.  "  Brethren,  we'd  better  adjourn  this  camp-meet- 
ing and  go  home  and  drill,"  cried  an  Illinois  minister  as  the 
news  of  the  defeat  interrupted  his  sermon.  "  A  few  more  Bull 
Run  thrashings  will  bring  the  Yankees  once  more  under  the 
yoke  as  docile  as  the  most  loyal  of  our  Ethiopian  chattels," 
announced  a  Southern  newspaper. 

Really  a  rout  for  both  sides  this  first  pitched  battle  of  the 
war  was  an  acknowledged  defeat  only  for  those  whose  legs 
were  longest.  Jefferson  Davis,  seeing  the  streams  of  Confeder- 
ate fugitives  pouring  from  the  field  considered  the  day  lost. 
"Battles  are  not  won,"  said  he,  "where  two  or  three  unhurt 


246 


BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 


men  are  seen  leading  away  one  that  is  wounded."  Private 
John  Tinkham  of  a  Northern  regiment  declared  that  after 
o-ettino-  the  order  to  retreat  he  should  not  have  stopped  run- 

£>  £5 

ning  short  of  Boston  if  he  had  not  been  halted  by  a  soldier 
with  a  musket  on  the  Washington  end  of  Long  Bridge. 


IN    THK    RKCRUTTINU    OKKICK. 


Checked  enthusiasm  either  dies  out  altogether  or  is  changed 
into  a  glorious,  because  stern  and  unyielding  determination. 
Out  of  the  gloom  of  Bull  Run  sprang  such  a  determination  on 
the  part  of  the  North.  Its  patriotism  was  too  sincere  to  be 
wrecked  by  one  set-back,  its  purpose  too  deep  to  yield  to  the 


BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  247 

appeals  of  timidity  or  the  arrogance  of  successful  rebellion.* 
The  people,  united  in  a  resolution  that  was  only  strengthened  by 
disaster,  ground  their  set  teeth  and  bent  to  their  task.  Fresh 
troops  were  enlisted,  new  regiments  were  hastened  to  the  front. 
Three  hundred  regiments  of  fully  a  thousand  men  each  were 
dispatched  to  what  were  esteemed  the  places  in  immediate 
danger.  The  statistical  record  of  men  present  for  duty  shows 
that  on  the  first  of  January,  1862,  there  were  five  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  four  Union  soldiers  in 
the  volunteer  army  of  the  United  States  as  against  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-seven  thousand  on  July  first. 

Of  this  total  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  men  were  upon 
the  muster-rolls  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  disaster  at 
Hull  Run  had  there  led  to  instant  change.  Worn  out  by  age 
and  infirmities  General  Scott  had  resigned  and  General  George 
B.  McClellan,  whose  brilliant  achievements  among  the  hills  of 
Western  Virginia  had  made  him  a  popular  hero,  was  given  the 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  At  once  he  proceeded 
upon  his  herculean  task  of  organization  and  discipline. 

East  and  west  the  forces  of  union  and  disunion  held  back 
from  immediate  conflict,  striving,  instead,  to  complete  the  organ- 
ization so  necessary  to  successful  action.  The  border  line  was 
seamed  with  earthworks,  the  blockaded  coasts  bristled  with  for- 
tifications. The  hostile  armies  faced  each  other,  glaring  across 
a  death  line  that  reached  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  mountains  of 
New  Mexico  —  a  battle  front  of  fully  two  thousand  miles. 
This  was  practically  divided  into  three  sections.  In  the  East, 
McClellan  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  opposed  to  Lee 
and  Johnston  with  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia;  in  the 

*  "  Had  Johnston  or  Beauregard  pushed  their  success  and  occupied  Washington,"  says  General  Sherman, 
"it  would  not  have  changed  the  result,  because  twenty  millions  of  freemen  would  never  have  submitted  tamely  to 
the  domination  of  the  slave-holder  faction." 


248  BOYS    OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

center  Buell  with  the  Army  of  the  Ohio  had  for  his  antagonist 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  with  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland;  in 
the  west  Hal  leek  with  the  Army  of  the  Missouri  was  confronted 
by  McCulloch  and  the  Army  of  the  Mississippi. 

At  last,  though  all  too  slowly  to  suit  the  impatient  North, 
the  tug  of  war  came.  It  came  with  varying  results  and  with 
uncertain  efforts,  each  side  as  yet  feeling  its  way.  Of  the  half- 
dozen  engagements  that  took  place  between  the  disastrous  July 
of  1 86 1  and  the  opening  months  of  1862  scarce  one  was  deci- 
sive or  really  important  until  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson  on  the 
sixteenth  of  February  drew  all  eyes  to  the  operations  in  the 
west  that  culminated  in  the  famous  two  days'  fight  at  Shiloh  — 
the  first  great  battle  of  the  Civil  War. 

So,  after  all,  it  was  from  the  west  that  the  first  note  of  victory, 
the  first  prophecy  of  final  triumph  came.  In  the  east, 
McClellan  now  raised  to  the  command  of  all  the  armies  of  the 
United  States,  was  displaying  his  wonderful  ability  as  the  best 
organizer  of  armed  troops  known  to  American  history ;  but  so 
jealous  was  he  of  his  own  forces,  so  desirous  of  putting  every 
available  man  into  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  that  he  had  but 
scant  sympathy  for  the  other  divisions  of  the  great  army  of 
which  he  was  commanding  general.  "  Every  man  sent  to  any 
other  department,"  says  a  recent  authority,  "  he  regarded  as  a 
sort  of  robbery  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac."  Day  after  day 
the  same  report  went  to  the  North  :  "  All  quiet  on  the  Potomac  ;  " 
day  after  day  president  and  people  grew  more  anxious,  more 
critical,  more  impatient. 

Who  then  can  wonder  that  the  news  from  the  west  sent  a 
thrill  of  joy  through  the  waiting,  weary  heart  of  the  north. 
Grant's  stern  reply  to  Buckner,  the  commander  at  Fort  Donel- 
son:  "No  terms  except  an  unconditional  and  immediate 


ROYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  249 

surrender  can  be  accepted.  I  propose  to  move  immediately 
upon  your  works,"  was  the  answer  to  the  nation's  prayer 
for  prompt  action  and  immediate  results.  They  came 
speedily.  Donelson  and  its  fifteen  thousand  men  surren- 
dered to  the  Union  arms.  Grant  was  made  a  major-general 
of  volunteers.  His  name  was  upon  every  lip.  And  then  came 
Shiloh. 

In  the  country  round  about  that  little  log  church  in 
Southwestern  Tennessee  that  gave  its  name  to  what  has  been 
called  "  the  most  famous  and  to  both  sides  the  most  interesting 
of  the  battles  of  the  war,"  for  two  long  days  the  bloody  conflict 
raged.  Furious,  deadly  and  stubbornly  contested  this  bloodiest 
battle  ever  fought  west  of  the  Alleghanies  gave  the  key-note  to 
all  the  succeeding  contests  of  the  war —  it  was  fighting  to  kill 
because  it  was  fighting  to  conquer.  Forty  thousand  Northern 
troops  joined  battle  with  an  equal  number  of  Southern  soldiers. 
It  was  a  duel  to  the  death.  "  The  troops  on  both  sides,"  says 
General  Grant,  "were  American  and,  united,  they  need  not  fear 
any  foreign  foe."  Divided,  alas,  their  obstinate  fight  was  terri- 
ble in  its  intensity,  terrible  in  its  results.  Every  inch  of  ground 
was  disputed  stubbornly,  every  possible  device  for  wresting 
victory  from  defeat  was  made  use  of  by  both  parties.  And 
when  after  a  two  days'  fight  the  Southern  army  turned  in 
flight,  its  leader  dead,  its  object  defeated,  its  high  hopes 
dashed  to  earth  the  loss  entailed  by  that  terrible  struggle  was 
as  appalling  as  the  victory  was  complete.  At  least  eleven 
thousand  men  was  the  roll  in  killed  and  wounded  on  either  side. 
"  If  we  should  read,"  says  Mr.  Johnson,  "that  by  some  disaster 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  city  of  Concord,  New 
Hampshire,  had  been  either  killed  or  wounded,  and  in  the  next 
day's  paper  that  the  same  thing  had  happened  in  Montgomery, 


250  BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

Alabama,  the  loss  in  life  and  limb  would  only  equal  what  took 
place  on  the  mournful  field  of  Shiloh." 

It  was  a  test  battle.  For  the  first  time  Southern  dash  and 
discipline  had  grappled  with  Northern  endurance  and  dis- 
cipline, on  equal  terms  and  on  a  fair  field.  It  was  the  first 
real  battle  of  the  war.  For  this  the  Boys  of  'Sixty-one  had 
drudged  and  drilled,  for  this  North  and  South  had  been 
clamorously  calling.  After  Shiloh  the  Southern  boast  that 
a  Southern  gentleman  could  whip  five  Yankees  was  no  more 
heard  ;  the  Northern  bravado  that  the  war  could  not  outlast 
one  fair  battle  died  away  forever.  Both  sides  now  understood 
that  war  meant  work  and  that  it  meant  a  stubborn  death- 
grapple  ere  the  end  could  come.  Every  man  who  outlived  the 
heated  fire  of  "  the  hornet's  nest "  at  Shiloh  came  from  the 
conflict  with  a  higher  regard  of  the  fighting  qualities  of  "  his 
brother  the  enemy''  than  he  had  held  before. 

J 

But  though,  before  Shiloh,  no  real  battle  had  been  fought, 

C!>  v^ 

the  dozen  or  more  engagements  had  shown  the  temper  of  the 
men  who  had  sprung  to  arms.  Ellsworth  at  Alexandria  and 
Baker  at  Ball's  Bluff  had  shown  how  daring  and  foolhardiness 
may  run  side  by  side.  Lyon  the  gallant  Westerner,  shot  down 
while  heading  a  charge  at  Wilson's  Creek  —  "the  bloodiest  bat- 
tle, up  to  that  date,  ever  fought  on  American  soil  "  -  showed 
how  deep  was  his  patriotism,  how  determined  his  purpose  by 
leaving,  by  his  will,  his  entire  fortune  to  the  United  States  for 
use  in  defense  of  the  imperilled  nation ;  Mulligan,  holding  with 
but  twenty-eight  hundred  men  his  post  at  Lexington,  Missouri, 
against  an  overwhelming  force  of  fourteen  thousand  did  but 
prophesy  by  his  bravery  his  still  greater  valor  which  on  a  later 
day,  at  Winchester  fight,  caused  him  to  say  to  those  who  bore 
him  dying,  from  the  field,  "  Lay  me  down  and  save  the  flag;" 


BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 


25' 


Smith,  of  the  regulars,  a  loyal  "  West  Pointer,"  could  answer 
the  insinuations  that  hinted  at  his  disloyalty  as  he  listened 
with  flashing  eyes:  "  Oh !  never  mind;  they'll  take  it  back 
after  my  first  battle."  And  "they"  did.  And  this  same 
magnetic  leader  showed  the  stuff  of  which  brave  men  are 
made  when  leading  a  charge  at  Fort  Donelson,  cap  twirling  on 
sword-point,  he  shouted:  "No  flinching  now,  my  lads.  Here 

-  this  is  the  way ;  come  on  !  " 
and  so  dashed  through  to  vic- 
tory. 

For  a  while  the  exuberant 
spirits  of  those  first  volunteers 
who  rushed  to  the  war  as  to 
some  prolonged  picnic  lost 
alike  their  elasticity  and  their 
enthusiasm  even,  under  the 
routine  of  the  camp  and  the 
depressing  effect  of  their  sur- 
roundings. The  men  who  had 
gone  to  the  front,  swarming 
over  the  roofs  of  freight  cars 


H>K    TIIK    SOI.IUKKS. 


or  clinging  to  the  breezy  "  cow- 
catcher," who  had  scaled  the  walls  of  the  Capitol  and  frisked 
like  monkeys  along  its  high-hung  cornices  and  water-tables, 
who  had  rushed  into  the  water  with  drawn  knives  to  "tackle" 
the  voracious  and  deadly  sharks  and  worried  the  souls  of  slow- 
witted  "contrabands  "  by  their  gibes  and  pranks  —  these  found 
discipline  a  hard  word  to  construe  and  duty  but  too -often 
drudgery  and  weariness.  "Mud,"  says  Private  Goss,  "took 
the  military  valor  all  out  of  a  man.  Any  one  would  think 
from  reading  the  Northern  papers  that  we  had  macadamized 


252  SOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

roads  over  which  to  charge  at  the  enemy.  It  would  have 
pleased  us  much  to  have  seen  these  'on  to  Richmond'  people 
put  over  a  five-mile  course  in  the  Virginia  mud,  loaded  with  a 
forty-pound  knapsack,  sixty  rounds  of  cartridges  and  haversacks 
filled  with  four  clays'  rations." 

"The  Confederate  army,"  says  General  Beauregard,  "was 
filled  with  generous  youth  who  had  answered  the  first  call  to 
arms.  For  certain  kinds  of  field  work  they  were  not  yet 
adapted,  many  of  them  having  come  with  their  baggage  and 
servants.  These  they  had  to  dispense  with,  but  not  to  offend 
their  susceptibilities  I  exacted  the  least  work  from  them  apart 
from  military  drills  even  to  the  prejudice  of  important  field 
work  when  I  could  not  f^et  sufficient  ne^ro  labor.  They  '  had 

O  O  J 

come  to  fight  and  not  to  handle  the  pick  and  shovel,'  they 
declared  emphatically." 

It  was  hard  too  for  recruits  to  learn  that  there  is  really  no 
place  in  the  ranks  for  the  "  thinking  bayonet"  —as  some  unmili- 
tary  folk  liked  to  call  the  volunteer  of  '61.  "  I  thought,  sir- 
a  certain  private  began,  but  was  speedily  interrupted.  "  Think! 
think!"  roared  the  colonel:  "what  right  have  you  to  think  ? 
I  do  the  thinking  for  this  regiment.  Go  to  your  quarters  !  " 
The  rank  and  file  and  under  officers  of  a  regiment  are  not 
taken  into  the  confidence  of  their  superiors.  Their  duty  is 
simply  to  obey  orders. 

And  gradually  they  learned  to  obey.  As  the  days  rolled  by 
and  none  knew  how  soon  the  test  of  battle  might  come,  dis- 
cipline came  to  the  aid  of  duty  and  made  of  the  raw  recruits 
soldierly  fellows,  anxious  to  make  proof  of  their  training  and 
show  their  valor  in  the  face  of  the  foe.  "  Every  army  has  its 
driftwood  soldiers,"  says  Mr.  Coffin,  "valiant  at  the  mess  table, 
brave  in  the  story  about  the  bivouac  fire,  but  faint  of  heart 


BOYS   OF  'SIXTY-ONE.  253 

when  the  battle  begins."  That  this  is  but  too  true  every  battle 
shows.  Bull  Run  was  its  earliest  proof  and  even  at  Shiloh  the 
ten  thousand  National  and  Confederate  deserters  showed  the 
yet  uncertain  morale  of  the  armies  —  but  these  recreants  are 
the  exception,  the  minority  when  the  bugle  sounds  "fall  in"  and 
the  stirring  command  to  charge  means  desperate  work  at  hand. 
In  all  those  early  months  of  tedious  preparation  for  the 
greater  conflict  to  which  Shiloh  was  the  prelude  the  soldiers 
North  and  South  were  learning  the  hard  lesson  of  how  to  obey. 
The  unwritten  romance  of  the  camps  could  tell  of  many  a  fight 
with  pride  and  many  a  conquest  over  self  in  the  hard  school  of 
the  daily  drill  and  of  the  lonely  picket-line.  There  is  often 
more  of  heroism  in  this  latter  dangerous  duty  than  on  the 
noisier  line  of  battle  and  in  the  daylight  charge  to  death.  The 
silent  hero  is  often  the  most  valorous.  The  pathetic  poem  of 
disputed  authorship,  so  popular  during  the  war,  told  all  too 
vividly  the  story  of  the  lonely  picket: 

"  All  quiet  along  the  Potomac,"  they  say, 

"  Except  now  and  then  a  stray  picket 
Is  shot,  as  he  walks  on  his  heat  to  and  fro, 

By  a  rifleman  hid  in. the  thicket ; 
'Tis  nothing  —  a  private  or  two  now  and  then 

Will  not  count  in  the  news  of  the  battle; 
Not  an  officer  lost  —  only  one  of  the  men, 

Moaning  out,  all  alone,  his  death-rattle." 


"  There's  only  the  sound  of  the  lone  sentry's  tread, 

As  he  tramps  from  the  rock  to  the  fountain. 
And  he  thinks  of  the  two  in  the  low  trundle-bed 

Far  away  in  the  cot  on  the  mountain. 
His  musket  falls  slack  —  his  face,  dark  and  grim, 

Grows  gentle  with  memories  tender, 
And  he  mutters  a  prayer  for  the  children  asleep. 

For  their  mother  —  may  Heaven  defend  her! 


254  BOYS    OF  'SIXTY-ONE. 

"  He  passes  the  fountain,  the  blasted  pine-tree  — 

The  footstep  is  lagging  and  weary  ; 
Yet  onward  he  goes,  through  the  broad  belt  of  light, 

Toward  the  shades  of  the  forest  so  dreary. 
Hark!  was  it  the  night-wind  that  rustled  the  leaves  ? 

Was  it  moonlight  so  suddenly  flashing  ? 
It  looked  like  a  rifle.     .     .     .     '  Ila  !   Mary,  good-by  ! 

And  the  life-blood  is  ebbing  and  plashing. 

"  All  quiet  along  the  Potomac  to-night ; 

No  sound  save  the  rush  of  the  river; 
While  soft  falls  the  dew  on  the  face  of  the  dead  — 

The  picket's  off  duty  forever !  " 


CHAPTER   XII. 


FROM    SHILOH    TO    Al'POMATTOX. 

N  a  certain  July  morn- 
ing in  the  year  1863 
three  young  fellows 
in  their  early  teens 
walked  into  a  yet 
scarcely  -  awakened 
Connecticut  village. 
They  were  on  a 
short  vacation 
tramp  between 
New  York  and 
Boston,  stiffening 
their  muscles  and 
strengthening  their 

*— >  C3 

legs  as  a  prepara- 
tion, it  might  be, 
for  that  real  marching  that  all  young  fellows  of  those  stirring 
war-times  hoped  or  expected  some  day  to  do  on  Southern 
battlefields.  For  two  days  they  had  heard  but  little  of  the 
outside  world.  Twenty-seven  years  ago  tidings  from  abroad 
did  not  penetrate  the  country  sections  as  speedily  as  now. 
And  these  lads  were  so  anxious  for  news!  How  could  it  be 


-35 


256  FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX. 

otherwise  with  them  ?  They  were  wide-awake  New  York 
boys  steeped  in  the  seething  excitements  of  those  restless  days 
when  all  America  seemed -to  live  from  clay  to  day  upon  the 
anxious  seat. 

Suddenly,  as  they  passed  a  yet  unopened  house,  one  of  the 
boys  spied  a  discarded  newspaper  of  the  previous  day  lying 
where  it  had  been  thrown  aside  upon  the  trim  green  lawn. 
Instinctively  they  all  stole  in  and  confiscated  the  vagrant  sheet. 
And  as  one  unfolded  it  and  the  others  peered  over  his  shoulder 
all  three  gave  a  shout  of  joy:  "The  Great  Union  Victory  at 
Gettysburg!"  "  Vicksburg  Ours!"  Here  was  news  indeed. 
Exultant  and  thankful  the  three  lads  laid  down  the  borrowed 
newspaper  and  went  their  way  with  swinging  steps  and  light- 
ened hearts,  prouder  than  ever  of  the  boys  at  the  front,  with 
whom  they  hoped  some  day  to  cast  in  their  lot. 

It  was  indeed  great  news  for  all  the  North.  The  greatest 
from  Sumter  to  Appomattox.  For  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg 
marked  the  turning-point  of  the  war.  And  yet  not  the  greatest. 
There  was  one  occurrence,  not  military  indeed  but  national, 
that  hastened  results  more  than  any  other  achievement.  It 
was  a  simple  dip  into  the  inkstand,  a  single  act  of  justice.  But 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  laid  down  the  pen  that  signed  the 
immortal  proclamation  of  emancipation  the  days  of  rebellion 
were  numbered.  The  Edict  of  Freedom  was  America's  master- 
stroke. 

But  those  who  in  Northern  homes  watched  and  waited  in 
those  troublous  times,  finding  criticism  so  easy,  patience  so 
hard,  did  not  then  appreciate  to  the  full  the  importance  of  this 
greatest  state  paper  of  the  century.  To  those  eager  boys 
Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  meant  more  than  any  presiden- 
tial proclamation.  And  so  to  all  the  North  the  tidings 


FROM  SHJLOH   TO  APPOMATTOX.  257 

from  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  were  both  welcome  and 
wonderful. 

When  the  conflict  that  had  raged  so  furiously  through 
three  terrible  days  gained  its  first  note  of  victory  from  the 
wonderful  charge  of  Stannard's  brave  brigade  and  closed  with 
the  bloody  repulse  of  Pickett's  magnificent  charge  on  Cemetery 
Ridge  the  tide  of  rebel  invasion  was  swept  backward  from  the 
Pennsylvania  hills  and  the  greatest  stroke  of  the  Confederacy 
was  brought  to  naught. 

At  that  very  moment  that  Gibbon  was  holding  the  ridge 

*  O  O 

at  Gettysburg,  and,  with  a  loss  of  half  his  force,  hurled  back 
the  last  effort  of  invasion,  Grant,  outside  the  ramparts  of  far-off 
Vicksburg,  was  writing  to  Pemberton  the  rebel  commander: 
"  I  have  no  terms  but  the  unconditional  surrender  of  the 
city  and  garrison."  The  Fourth  of  July,  1863,  was  a  notable 
national  holiday.  For  on  that  anniversary  of  American  Inde- 
pendence the  might  of  American  freemen  was  fully  asserted  — 
the  last  great  attempt  of  rebellion  at  invasion  was  thwarted  and 
the  Mississippi  was  made  free  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf. 

In  both  these  pivotal  happenings  the  American  Soldier  was 
at  once  the  cause  and  instrument.  For  this  he  had  labored 
through  many  weary  months,  for  this  he  had  gone  through  all 
the  hard  routine  of  drill  and  discipline,  for  this  he  had  borne 
the  brunt  at  Shiloh  and  gone  through  the  terrible  experience 
of  the  Seven  Days'  Battle  in  Virginia  swamps,  for  this  had  he 
closed  in  hand-to-hand  fight  at  Perrysville  and  turned  at  bay 
on  Malvern  Hill,  for  this  had  he  stood  the  test  at  Murfrees- 
boro'  and  Antietam.  East  and  West  had  worked  and  struggled 
toward  victory.  To  East  and  West  at  almost  the  same  hour 
had  come  the  glorious  consummation. 

But    through  how  much    of   heart-ache    and    despondency, 


258  FROM  SHILOH  TO  APPOMATTOX. 

through  how  much  defeat  and  disaster  had  this  outlook  toward 
peace  been  reached.  From  Shiloh  to  Gettysburg  had  been, 
indeed,  a  hard  road  to  travel. 

And  yet  there  had  been  but  little  \vavering  in  will,  there  had 


been  no  shrinkage  in  the  determination   to  win. 


Through  all 


CHARCK    OK    STANNARDS    I'.RIC.ADK    AT    CK T T VS]!l'K(i. 


these  days  of  delay  and  inaction,  of  impatience  and  expectation, 
of  doubtful  battle  and  balked  endeavor,  of  incompetency  in 
leadership  and  division  in  council  the  baffled  North  again  and 
again  had  sent  its  reinforcements  to  the  field.  Tramp  !  tramp  ! 
tramp!  with  firm  and  measured  tread,  steadily,  solidly,  cease- 


FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX.  259 

lessly,  from  every  Northern  State  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  set 
their  faces  southward,  dispatched  for  the  strengthening  of  their 
brethren  at  the  front.  Tramp!  tramp!  tramp!  in  all  the 
mechanical  evolutions  of  review  and  drill,  of  advance  and 
retreat  and  the  charge  of  desperate  battle  the  blue  coats  all 
along  that  shifting  death  line  that  stretched  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  sea  marched  and  countermarched,  fought  and  fell. 

And  still  more  men  were  needed.  The  cause  of  war  was  as 
insatiate  as  was  that  horse-leech  of  whom  Scripture  tells,  who 
"hath  two  daughters  whose  only  cry  is:  Give,  give,  give!" 
South  as  well  as  North  this  cry  for  fresh  blood  rang  out  again 
and  again ;  South  as  well  as  North  the  fighters  fell  into  line 
until  it  seemed  to  those  who  watched  at  home  as  if  none  would 
be  left  as  bread-winners  when  so  many  went  away. 

To  the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln  on  April  15,  1861,  for 
75,000  men,  the  enthusiasm  inspired  by  Sumter's  fall  yielded  at 
once  an  hundred  thousand  in  reply.  The  later  calls  of  May 
and  July,  1861,  for  500,000  men  brought  the  Government  nearly 
700,000  in  response.  And  yet,  with  the  next  year,  came  another 
call  for  300^000  volunteers  and  from  every  quarter  they  rallied 
by  thousands  while,  of  those  already  in  service,  other  thousands 
re-enlisted  "for  three  years  or  the  war." 

The  verses  of  that  unknown  author  whose  measures  found 
an  echo  in  many  a  loyal  heart  recall  to  us  the  steady  outpour 
of  Northern  vigor  that  came  as  the  answer  to  the  president's 
call  of  July,  1862  : 

"  We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more, 

From  Mississippi's  winding  stream  and  from  New  England's  shore ; 

We  leave  our  ploughs  and  workshops,  our  wives  and  children  dear, 

With  hearts  too  full  for  utterance,  with  but  a  silent  tear; 

We  dare  not  look  behind  ns,  but  steadfastly  before  : 

We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more ! 


260  FROM  SHILOH  TO  APPOMATTOX. 

"  If  you  look  across  the  hilltops  that  meet  the  Northern  sky, 

Long  moving  lines  of  rising  dust  your  vision  may  descry  ; 

And  now  the  wind,  an  instant,  tears  the  cloudy  veil  aside, 

And  floats  aloft  our  spangled  flag  in  glory  and  in  pride, 

And  bayonets  in  the  sunlight  gleam,  and  bands  brave  music  pour  : 

We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more  ! 

"  If  you  look  all  up  our  valleys  where  the  growing  harvests  shine, 
You  may  see  our  sturdy  farmer  boys  fast  forming  into  line ; 
And  children  from  their  mother's  knees  are  pulling  at  the  weeds, 
And  learning  how  to  reap  and  sow  against  their  country's  needs; 
And  a  farewell  group  stands  weeping  at  every  cottage  door  : 
We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more  ! 

"  You  have  called  us  and  we're  coming,  by  Richmond's  bloody  tide. 

To  lay  us  down,  for  Freedom's  sake,  our  brothers'  bones  beside, 

Or  from  foul  treason's  savage  grasp  to  wrench  the  murderous  blade, 

And  in  the  face  of  foreign  foes  its  fragments  to  parade. 

Six  hundred  thousand  loyal  men  and  true  have  gone  before  : 

We  are  coming.  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more  !  " 

Six  hundred  thousand  loyal  men  and  true  had  gone  before. 
In  the  spring  of  1862  a  force  of  637,126  men  was  in  the  service  of 
the  Union,  but  the  waste  of  this  gallant  force  by  the  guns  of 
the  enemy  and  by  that  still  deadlier  foe  —  disease— had  not 
been  offset  by  successive  battle.  The  ill-fortune  of  the  Union 
arms  through  1862  made  still  more  troops  necessary  and 
the  August  call  for  yet  another  three  hundred  thousand  men 
taxed  alike  the  patience  and  the  patriotism,  the  resources  and 
the  conscience  of  the  loyal  North. 

4  The  defeat  of  the  Confederate  Army  at  Gettysburg  and 
the  capture  of  Vicksburg,"  says  General  Sherman,  "should 
have  ended  the  civil  war --but  no!  the  leaders  demanded  the 
'last  ditch'  and  their  followers  seemed  willing."  And  so  the 
war  went  on.  New  levies  of  troops  were  called  for,  new  en- 
listments ordered;  to  McClellan  the  dilatory  drill-master  sue- 


J-KOM  SHILOH  TO  APPOMATTOX.  261 

ceeded  at  length  Grant  "  the  hammerer,"  and  the  blue  and  the 
gray  closed  in  the  last  desperate  struggle  for  supremacy. 

It  was  not  all  young  blood  alone  that  responded  to  these 
later  calls.  In  1863  a  regiment  went  from  Iowa  known  as  "the 
gray-beard  regiment,"  not  a  man  of  which  was  under  forty-five 
and  many  in  which  were  over  sixty  years  of  age.  It  was  said 
of  this  "gray-beard  regiment  "  that  they  had  already  contributed 
fourteen  hundred  sons  and  grandsons  to  the  war. 

In  the  long  period  of  conflict  —  a  period  stretching  from 
the  fall  of  Sumter  on  the  fifteenth  of  April,  1861,  to  the  death 
of  Lincoln  on  the  fourteenth  of  April,  1865,  four  years  to  a  day 
—  the  number  of  men  recruited  for  the  service  of  the  United 
States  was  2,690401  ;  the  number  enrolled  in  the  armies  of  the 
Confederacy  has  never  been  fairly  determined,  but  was  at  least 
a  million  and  a  half.  For  the  first  years  of  the  war,  as  we  have 
seen,  recruiting  was  spontaneous  and  enthusiastic,  but  as  the 
conflict  "strung  out"  to  its  close  the  call  for  volunteers  was 

O 

less  generously  responded  to  until  at  the  last  service  in  the 
North  was  only  obtainable  through  an  ineffectual  draft  and  the 
payment  of  large  sums  of  money  in  "bounties" — a  premium 
for  enlistment,  and  in  the  South  by  a  sweeping  conscription  of 
all  white  men  resident  in  the  Confederacy  between  the  ages  of 
sixteen  and  sixty  —  a  measure  of  which  it  was  remarked  that 
the  Confederates  were  robbing  the  cradle  and  the  grave  to  fill 
their  armies. 

The  four  million  Americans  who  took  up  arms  for  or  against 
the  government  of  the  United  States  may  be  classed  under 
three  general  heads  —  the  "  hurrah  "  boys,  the  duty  soldiers  and 
the  purchase-money  men.  To  these  should  properly  be  added 
the  conscripts,  North  and  South  —  soldiers  against  their  will, 
who  marched  in  spite  of  themselves  and  fought  under  protest. 


262  FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX. 

The  smoke  of  Surnter  lingered  long  in  the  air  but,  gradu- 
ally, the  reckless  enthusiasm  of  the  early  days  of  the  conflict 
subsided  into  astern  sense  of  duty.  To  enlist  "  just  for  the  fun 
of  it"  became  less  and  less  frequent  and  men  sought  the 
recruiting  office  because  they  felt  that  they  must  rather  than 
from  a  mere  love  of  fighting. 

And  yet  it  was  these  "  duty  soldiers  "  who  gave  strength  to 
the  national  cause  and  showed  by  a  sacrifice  of  life  to  conscience 
that  the  end  could  only  come  in  victory  for  the  Union. 

"  I  think  about  the  dear,  brave  boys 

My  mates  in  other  years, 
Who  pine  for  home  and  those  they  love, 

Till  I  am  choked  with  tear>. 
With  shouts  and  cheers  they  marched  away 

On  glory's  shining  track  , 
Hut  ah  !  how  long,  how  long  they  sta\  — 

How  few  of  them  come  back  ! 

"  And  when  I  kneel  and  try  to  pray, 

My  thoughts  are  never  free, 
But  cling  to  those  who  toil  and  fight 

And  die  for  you  and  me. 
And  when  I  pray  for  victory, 

It  seems  almost  a  sin 
To  fold  my  hands  and  ask  for  what 

I  will  not  help  to  win." 

Such  men  as  this,  struggling  with  the  two-sided  question  of 
duty  generally  found  their  way  at  last  to  the  recruiting  office 
and  helped  to  win  the  victory  for  which  they  had  prayed. 

And  at  last  through  blood  and  tears  "  glory's  shining  track  " 
led  on  to  victory.  The  "  cjreat  hammerer"  (as  Grant  has  well 

j  O 

been  called)  with  the  strength  of  a  nation  behind  him  and 
veteran  fighters  at  his  command  finally  beat  down  the  weaken- 
ing cause  of  rebellion  and  closed  at  Appomattox  in  generous 


'1XJ   YOU    WANT  TO   LIVE   FOREVER?" 


FROM  SHILOH   TO   APPOMATTOX.  265 

conditions  to  a  conquered  foe  the  four  long  years  of  stubborn 
strife. 

Who  can  rightly  sum  up  in  few  words  the  heroisms  and  the 
valor  of  those  days  of  struggle  ?  They  were  exhibited  in  every 
small  encounter,  they  were  displayed  in  every  mighty  battle. 
Neither  side  could  claim  the  monopoly  of  bravery.  The  War 
for  Secession  was  a  revelation  to  the  world  of  American  cour- 
age, American  pluck  jjn'd  American  endurance.  The  bloody 
angle  at  Spottsylvania,  the  "slaughter  pen"  on  the  slope  of 
Little  Round  Top  at  Gettysburg,  the  "  hornet's  nest  "  at  Shiloh, 
the  last  grand  dash  at  Chickamauga  —  these  and  countless 
other  places  of  crisis  and  posts  of  danger  stand  in  the  memory 
of  those  who  yet  survive  as  proof  of  the  courage  and  persistence 
of  the  American  soldier. 

And  so  from  Bull  Run  to  Shiloh,  from  Shiloh  on  to  Gettys- 
burg and  Appomattox  the  "cruel  war"  went  on  —  with  defeat 
here,  with  victory  there,  with  plans  frustrated  one  day  and 
realized  the  next,  with  reconnaissance  and  sortie,  with  artillery 
duels  and  hand-to-hand  encounters,  with  the  "ping"  of  bullets 
from  the  rifle  pits  and  the  unrecorded  romances  of  the  picket 
line,  with  the  furious  charge,  the  death-clamber  over  hostile 
ramparts,  the  battle,  the  capture,  the  prison-pen  and  escape, 
until  at  last  came  the  end  and  the  furled  flags  and  the  silent 
cannon  told  that  the  conflict  between  brothers  was  over  and 
that  the  brave  men,  North  and  South,  were  brothers  indeed 
once  more. 

Not  all  the  fighters  in  blue  were  Hectors,  nor  was  every 
one  in  gray  an  Achilles.  Though  there  is  an  inspiration  in 
valor,  heroism  is  not  always  "catching."  Cowardice  is  as  old 
as  Cain  and  while  time  calls  for  tests  of  bravery  so  long  will 
there  be  those  who  flinch  before  the  test.  It  is  a  mistake  to 


266  FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX. 

suppose  that  soldiers  dash  into  battle  with  avidity  or  double- 
quick  to  a  charge  without  a  tremor.  Many  a  time  have  the 
fighters  needed  to  be  fairly  driven  into  fight,  as  even  a  blooded 
racer  may  balk  before  a  five-barred  gate.  "  Come  on,  come  on, 
my  men !  "  cried  a  fiery  rebel  colonel  at  Malvern  Hill,  as  before 
a  charge  his  men  seemed  to  hesitate ;  "  what  are  you  waiting 
for?  Do  you  want  to  live  forever  ?  In  with  you  !  "  and  "  in  " 
they  went.  Over  the  wires  once  went  the  facetious  dispatch 
of  the  observant  operator :  "  The  Seventeenth  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry  just  passed  here,  furiously  charging  to  the  rear." 

Many  a  private's  knee  shook  when  the  order  "Fall  in, 
men!"  came  and  he  knew  a  battle  was  at  hand;  more  than 
one  boaster,  valiant  only  at  mess,  has  dived  into  hiding  as 
with  shriek  and  whirr  the  deadly  shell  has  cut  the  air  above 
him,  as  certain  that  his  doom  was  its  mission  as  was  poor 
Darky  Bill,  the  company  cook,  who  declared  that  every  shell 
that  sent  him  "kiting"  into  cover  was  shrieking:  "Ah-h-h, 
where's  dat  nigger!  where's  dat  nigger!  where s  dat  nigger!  " 

Civilians  do  not  have  a  monopoly  of  terror  and  the  men 
that  "  skedaddled ''  before  Morgan's  picturesque  raid  in  the 
NorCh  and  Sherman's  historic  "bummers"  in  the  South  some- 
times wore  uniforms  and  carried  sword  and  musket. 

For  not  alone  does  the  occasional  private  show  the  white 
feather.  The  weakness  of  knees  has  sometimes  been  known  to 
affect  also  the  officer,  whom  favoritism  or  official  patronage  has 
put  in  command  of  men  braver  than  he.  "  Why  don't  you  get 
behind  a  tree,  Jim?"  shouted  one  private  to  another  as,  in  one  of 
the  Virginia  battles,  the  "  zip  "  of  the  flying  balls  sent  many 
a  man  dodging  for  shelter.  "Tree!"  yelled  the  unsheltered 
private  ;  "  confound  it !  There  ain't  enough  for  the  officers." 

There  were  "  weak-kneed  brothers  "  and  "  number  one  "  out- 


FROM  SHILOH  TO   APIOMATTOX. 


267 


lookers  in  every  regiment.  Worse  than  these,  there  were  desert- 
ers on  both  sides,  there  were  cravens  and  skulkers  and  "  bounty- 
jumpers,"  as  in  every  community  the  bad  find  place  among  the 
good  and  God's  cleansing  rain  falls  alike  on  just  and  unjust. 
But  discipline  conquers  insubordination  and  brings  even 
timidity  steadily  into  line.  The  men  who  fought  from  a  sense 


MORGAN'S  RAIDKRS. 


of  duty  far  outnumbered  those    who   were   weak   of   heart   or 
treacherous  in  faith.     And  these  won  the  victories. 

"  There  is  something  grand,"  says  the  drummer-boy  Harry 
Kieffer  in  his  sprightly  recollections,  "  in  the  promptitude  with 


2 68  FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX. 

which  the  order  to  '  fall  in  '  is  obeyed.  Every  man  is  at  his 
post.  Forcing  its  way  as  best  it  can  through  the  tangled  under- 
orowth  of  briers  and  bushes,  across  ravines  and  through 
swamps,  our  whole  magnificent  line  advances,  until  after  a  half- 
hour's  steady  work,  we  reach  the  skirmish  line,  which,  hardly 
pressed,  falls  back  into  the  advancing  column  of  blue  as  it 
reaches  a  little  clearing  in  the  forest." 

The  heroes  of  that  greatest  of  great  rebellions  were  many. 
To  name  them  would  need  a  volume,  to  set  down  the  deeds  of 
valor  done  would  be  but  an  endless  repetition  of  heroisms. 
How  could  we  even  commence  the  list  ?  Grant  the  general, 
"  the  commander  that  never  took  a  step  backward  ;  "  Sherman 
the  persistent;  McClellan  the  matchless  engineer;  Sheridan 
the  fiery  rider;  Hancock  "the  superb;  "  Custer  with  the  heart 
of  flame  ;  Kearney  "  who  knew  not  to  yield  "  and  Thomas  the 
"rock  of  Chickamauga,"  according  to  Greeley  "the  greatest 
soldier  of  them  all."  Every  patriot  at  the  North  had  his 
favorite  to  cheer  to  the  echo  or  to  run  into  the  current  "patter- 
songs  "  of  the  day.  And  even  yet  history  cannot  weigh  reputa- 
tions perfectly  nor  say  who  was  "  best  "  among  them  all.  And 
on  the  other  side  the  line  —  how  shall  that  roll  be  fitly  com- 
menced —  Lee,  recreant  but  royal,  perhaps,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  greatest  leader  that  ever  generaled  a  lost  cause  - 
fighting  ever  a  losing  battle,  prolific  in  device,  masterly  in  ex- 
ecution ;  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  a  gallant  soldier,  a  born 
leader,  who  died  on  the  field  of  Shiloh,  a  martyr  to  his  own 
indomitable  energy  ;  "  Stonewall  "  Jackson,  "  Lee's  right  arm," 
rapid,  bewildering,  magnetic  ;  Polk,  "  priest  and  warrior ;  "  Stuart, 
perhaps  the  best  cavalryman  America  has  ever  produced  and  a 
thousand  others  mistaken  in  judgment,  brave  in  action  — 
American  soldiers  all. 


FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX.  269 

And,  following  their  leaders,  from  the  ranks  on  either  side 
a  countless  host  emerges  —  brothers  in  bravery  as  in  speech,  if 
foemen  in  the  hour  of  fight. 

A  driver  in  the  regular  artillery,  shot  through  the  body  at 
Olustee,  with  his  life  blood  streaming  from  this  mortal  wound, 
struggled  to  extricate  his  team  from  the  deadly  tangle  and  to 
carry  off  his  gun  until,  his  strength  not  being  equal  to  his  valor, 
he  fell  dead  in  the  resolute  but  vain  attempt. 

And  in  that  same  Olustee  fight,  the  rebel  lieutenant  Col- 
quitt  was  a  conspicuous  object  to  the  troops  on  both  sides  as, 
galloping  in  front  of  the  Confederate  ranks,  he  waved  a  battle 
flag  and  exhorted  the  men  to  stand  fast  and  not  to  lie  down  or 
shelter  themselves  lest  the  enemy  should  suppose  they  had 
broken. 

In  Russell's  brilliant  charge  on  the  redoubts  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock  Sergeant  Roberts  of  the  Sixth  Maine  was  first  inside 
the  works.  Finding  himself  alone  he  deemed  discretion  the 
better  part  of  valor  and  cried  out  "  I  surrender."  But,  turning, 
he  saw  his  comrades  tumbling  over  the  parapet.  "No,  no;  I 
take  it  back  !  "  he  yelled,  made  a  dash  for  the  rebel  colors  and 
captured  them. 

Colonel  Terry,  the  Texas  crack  shot,  coolly  aiming  his  piece, 
dropped  the  United  States  flag  at  Fairfax  Court  House  by 
cutting  the  halyards  with  a  rifle  shot,  dashed  into  the  melee 
and  carried  off  the  flag. 

At  Spottsylvania  Corporal  Weeks  captured,  all  unaided,  the 
rebel  colors  and  their  guard  of  six  lusty  Confederates,  and  on 
the  same  bloody  day  Sergeant  Fasnacht  performed  precisely 
the  same  feat  with  the  single  argument  of  an  empty  musket. 
On  the  official  list  of  those  to  whom  medals  of  honor  were 
awarded  for  bravery  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion  two  hun- 


27o  FROM  SHILOH  TO   APl'OMATTOX. 

dred  and  eighty-six  men  in  the  ranks  were  honored  for  this 
same  dangerous  action  —  gallantry  in  the  capture  of  the 
enemy's  flag. 

In  Sheridan's  great  Richmond  raid  the  First  North  Carolina 
charged  the  Sixth  New  York  battery.  In  the  crush  and  strug- 
gle a  Confederate  officer  cut  his  way  straight  to  the  rear  piece 
and  laying  his  hand  on  the  gun  exclaimed :  "  This  is  my  piece." 
"  Not  by  a  darned  sight,"  replied  a  New  York  cannonier,  leap- 
ing- on  his  £un  as  with  a  u  scientific  "  blow  from  the  shoulder  he 

o  o 

planted  his  fist  between  the  eyes  of  the  rebel  colonel,  knocked 
him  off  his  horse  and  took  him  prisoner. 

At  that  brief  but  bloody  fight  at  Olustee,  already  referred 
to,  Colonel  •  Fribley's  colored  troops  met  the  enemy  at  short 
range  though  they  had  never  had  a  day's  experience  in  load- 
ing and  firing.  "  Old  troops,"  says  General  Hawley,  "  finding 
themselves  so  greatly  overmatched,  would  have  run  a  little  and 
re-formed  —  with  or  without  orders.  The  black  men  stood  to 
be  killed  or  wounded  —  losing  more  than  three  hundred  out  of 
five  hundred  and  fifty  men." 

J 

Bravery  in  battle  is  heralded  far  and  wide,  repaid  with  the 
medal  of  honor  and  the  applause  of  a  hero-loving  world.  But 
there  is  a  moral  bravery  greater  even  than  that  which  faces 
cannons  or  springs  forward  to  the  deadly  charge.  Such  was 
the  conduct  of  that  Ohio  regiment  left  without  supplies,  suffer- 
ing for  food,  desperate  enough  to  appropriate  anything  that 
should  come  in  their  way.  In  the  dead  of  night  they  hear  the 
rumble  of  wagon  wheels.  "  Grub  !  "  they  yell,  alive  with  the 
joy  of  approaching  relief,  and  springing  into  the  road  stand 
ready  to  help  unload.  But  the  heavy  wagon  goes  straight  on 
without  stopping.  Furious  at  such  neglect  a  dozen  strong 
hands  catch  at  the  horses'  heads,  a  swarm  of  blue-coats  clamber 


FROM  SH1LOH   TO  APPOMATTOX. 


271 


cres. 


into  the  wagon.  Down  tumble  the  supplies;  off  go  the  heads 
of  barrels,  the  tops  of  cracker  boxes.  Hunger  stops  at  nothing. 
"Not  for  us,  eh?  "comes  the  indignant  cry  in  response  to  the 
threats  and  appeals  of  the  drivers.  "  Well,  I  guess  !  Nobody 
else  is  going  to  have  this.  We're  hungry  enough  to  eat  you 
and  your  horses."  "But,  boys,  boys!  for  God's  sake  hold 
on,"  the  overpowered  driver 
4<Tliis  grub  is  for 
Wisconsin  fellows 
below  you.  They  have  been 
without  food  twenty-four 
hours  longer  than  you  have. 
They're  starving!"  With- 
out a  word,  with  scarcely  a 
moment's  hesitation,  box- 
lids  are  hammered  down, 
supplies  reloaded  and  the 
hungry  heroes  with  a  part- 
ing cheer  send  on  the  load 
untouched  to  those  whose 
necessity  is  even  greater 
than  theirs. 

In    May,   1X63,   a    force 
of    rebel    cavalry  swooping 

down  on  Stoneman's  advance  captured  Lieutenant  Paine  of 
the  First  Maine  cavalry  and  his  men.  While  crossing  a  rapid 
stream  with  the  prisoners  Lieutenant  Henry,  the  commander 
of  the  rebel  force,  was  suddenly  swept  from  his  horse  by  the 
rushing  water.  No  hand  among  his  own  men  was  lifted  to 
save  him,  but,  quick  as  a  flash,  the  Yankee  prisoner,  Paine, 
sprang  from  his  horse,  seized  his  drowning  foeman  by  the 


AFTKR    THK    BATTI.K. 


272  FROM  SHILOH  TO   APPOMATTOX. 

collar  and  swam  with  him  to  the  shore.  For  this  act  of  heroism 
General  Fitzhugh  Lee  gave  Paine  his  liberty  without  parole  or 
condition  and,  such  are  the  strange  conditions  of  war,  the 
plucky  Yankee  lieutenant  on  reaching  Washington  found  the 
rebel  lieutenant  whose  life  he  had  saved  a  prisoner  in  the  Old 
Capitol  prison  and  there  again  befriended  him. 

And   Bayard   Wilkeson  —  the  Sidney  of   the  war  —  let   his 

j  * 

name  have  place  in  this  all  too  brief  suggestion  of  brave 
deeds.  Scarcely  more  than  a  boy,  only  nineteen,  he  held  his 
command -- Battery  G  Fourth  U.  S.  Artillery,  of  which  he 
was  lieutenant  —  in  an  exposed  position  on  the  Union  right 
at  Gettysburg  until  the  rebel  General  Gordon  ordered  two 
batteries  to  train  every  gun  upon  him.  Then  desperately 
wounded.  \Yilkeson  fell  from  his  horse  and  draped  himself 

OO 

into  the  rebel  lines.  There,  lying  wounded  to  the  death,  he 
asked  for  water.  A  canteen  was  brought  him  but  as  he  took  it 
a  wounded  soldier,  probably  one  of  the  enemy,  saw  it  and 
cried  :  ''  For  God's  sake  give  me  some."  The  young  hero  passed 
the  canteen  untouched  to  the  sufferer  who  greedily  drank  every 
drop.  Then  Wilkeson,  courteous  to  the  end,  smiled  on  the 
man,  turned  slightly  and  died.  Rightly  named;  Bayard  in 

O  J  O  ^  ., 

truth  ;  not  even  the  old  cavalier  of  far-off  days  sans  pcur  et 
sans  reprochc  did  ever  a  nobler  or  more  knightly  deed. 

But  why  increase  the  list  ?  There  have  been  heroes  in 
every  conflict  as  there  are  brave  men  always,  as  well  in  peace 
as  war,  but  the  annals  of  that  bloody  war  for  secession  are  em- 
phasized throughout  by  valor  and  punctuated  with  heroism  : 

"Oh,  not  alone  the  hoary  Past 

Spilled  precious  princely  blood  ; 
<  *h,  not  alone  its  sons  were  cast 

In  knightly  form  and  mood  ; 


J-KOM  SHILOH   TO   APPOMATTOX.  273 

Perennial  smells  of  sacrifice 

Make  sweet  our  sickened  air; 
And  truth  as  leal  as  Sidney's,  lies 

Around  us  everywhere. 

"  Renown  stands  mute  beside  the  graves 

With  which  the  land  is  scarred ; 
Unheralded  our  splendid  braves 

•  Went  forth  unto  the  Lord  ; 
No  poet  hoards  their  humble  names 

In  his  immortal  scrolls, 
Hut  none  the  less  the  darkness  flames 

With  their  clear-shining  souls  " 

Courage,  it  used  to  be  asserted,  was  the  cheapest  thing  in 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  but  so  too  was  it  equally  common 
in  the  army  of  the  center  and  the  army  of  the  west.  Of  physi- 
cal courage  and  contempt  of  death,  says  Rossiter  Johnson,  "  no 
generation  of  Americans  has  shown  any  lack.  From  Louis- 
burg  to  Petersburg  —  a  hundred  and  twenty  years,  the  full  span 
of  four  generations  —  they  have  stood  to  their  guns  and  been 
shot  down  in  greater  comparative  numbers  than  any  other  race 
on  earth."  Wearied  and  disheartened  but  plucky  to  the  last  the 
Confederate  soldier  made  his  homely  butternut  the  badge  of 
bravery  and  shed  about  a  lost  and  desperate  cause  the  halo  of 
a  deathless  valor;  stern  and  unyielding  and  never  despairing  of 
the  right,  the  boys  in  blue  glorified  the  hour  of  vicjory  by  their 
kindly  helpfulness  toward  a  fallen  foe  and  by  their  mighty 
achievements  made  the  name  and  the  power  of  the  American 
Republic  honored  and  feared  throughout  the  world. 

The  last  stand  had  been  made,  the  last  blow  given,  the  last 
dashing  charge  attempted  and  repelled.  With  Appomattox  the 
war  ended.  And  the  picture  that  General  Porter  draws  so 
vividly  may  apply  with  equal  truth  to  all  the  opposing  forces 
that  with  folded  banners  drew  backward,  one  to  the  North  the 


274  FROM  SHILOH    TO   APPOATATTOX. 

other  to  the  South,  from  that  wavering  death-line  that  had 
stretched  for  so  many  months  from  the  sierras  to  the  sea : 
"  The  charges  were  withdrawn  from  the  guns,  the  camp-fires 
were  left  to  smoulder  in  their  ashes,  the  flags  were  tenderly 
furled  —  those  historic  banners,  battle-stained,  bullet-riddled, 
many  of  them  but  remnants  of  their  former  selves  with  scarcely 
enough  left  of  them  on  which  to  imprint  the  names  of  the 
battles  they  had  seen — and  the  Army  of  the  Union  and  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  turned  their  backs  upon  each 
other  for  the  first  time  in  four  long,  bloody  years." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

BOOTS     AND     SADDLE. 


H 


OME  again  !  The  gallant  but 
hopeless  defense  of  Rich- 
mond, which  has  given  to 
Lee's  wasted  line  the  right 
to  the  name  of  heroes,  had 
ended  in  the  surrender  at 
Appomattox  and  the  war 
was  over.  The  armies  of 
the  conqueror  and  the  con- 
quered were  disbanded  or 
melted  away,  peace  at  last 
rested  upon  the  land  and  the 
soldiers,  North  and  South, 
became  once  again  citizens 
and  bread-winners. 

Six  hundred  thousand 
lives  and  six  thousand  million  dollars  had  been  the  cost  in 
blood  and  treasure  at  which  the  conflict  had  been  waged  ;  but 
it  had  made  the  United  States  a  nation  and  had  put  to  rest 
forever  the  terror  of  civil  war. 

Quickly    the    work    of    disbanding    went    on.      The   great 
reviews  of  the  twenty-third  and  the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  1865, 

275 


276  BOOTS  AND   SADDLE. 

when,  first,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and,  next,  the  Army  that, 
led  by  Sherman,  had  made  its  historic  march  to  the  sea  and 
"swuno-  around  the  circle  "  of  the  Confederacy  marched  in  close 

o  J 

column,  twenty-four  deep,  around  the  gleaming  Capitol  and 
down  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  the  reviewing  stand  at  the 
White  House.  Two  hundred  thousand  men  and  more,  bronzed 
of  face  but  with  a  free  and  steady  step  and  the  elastic  spring 
which  only  the  veteran  soldier  knows  --  the  remnants  of  mighty 
regiments,  their  smoke-stained  battle-flags  torn  by  wind  and 
fight,  they  marched  in  grand  review  before  the  President  of 
the  United  States  and  the  chiefs  of  the  nation.  The  president 
-but  not  their  president !  Not  the  one  man  of  royal  soul  and 
of  homely  face  who  through  four  weary  years  of  war  had  never 
faltered,  never  despaired,  but  had  worked  steadily  on  for  the 
end  he  knew  would  come,  the  end  that  now  the  grand  review, 
the  throbbing  music  of  regimental  bands,  the  streaming 
banners,  the  thronging  streets  of  Washington  welcomed  with 
so  much  of  pomp  and  exultation.  Their  captain  —  their  presi- 
dent—  where  was  he?  "He  had  lived  to  enter  the  enemy's 
capital,  lived  to  see  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
restored  over  the  whole  country  and  then  was  snatched  away, 
when  the  people  were  as  much  as  ever  in  need  of  his  genius 
for  the  solution  of  new  problems  that  suddenly  confronted 
them." 

How  many  a  soldier  in  that  great  review,  missing  the  kindly 
face,  the  rugged  features,  the  gaunt,  ungainly  frame  that  were 
as  familiar  as  they  were  dear  to  all  loyal  Americans,  felt  as  did 
the  most  American  of  all  our  American  poets*  when,  out  of  the 
anguish  of  his  soul,  he  wrote  his  grandest  verse  "  My  Captain  "  : 

•Walt  Whitman,  whom  Sir  Kilwin  Arnold  describes  as  "  that  e;rand  old  poet  of  yours  whom  America  does  not 
seem  to  appreciate." 


BOOTS  AND   SADDLE.  277 

"  O  Captain  !  my  Captain  !  our  fearful  trip  is  done  ; 
The  ship  has  weather'd  every  rack,  the  prize  we  sought  is  won  ; 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim  and  daring; 
But  O  heart !   heart !   heart  ! 
O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 

Where  on  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead  ! 

"  O  Captain  !  my  Captain  !  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells  : 
Rise  up  —  for  you  the  flag  is  flung  —for  you  the  bugle  trills  ; 
For  you  bouquets  and  ribbon'd  wreaths  —  for  you  the  shores  a-crowding; 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager  faces  turning; 
Here,  Captain!  dear  father! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head  ; 

It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

"  My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still; 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will  : 
The  ship  is  anchor'd  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed  and  done 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object  won. 
Exult,  O  shores,  and  ring,  O  bells! 
But  I  with  mournful  tread. 

Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead." 

The  soldiers  of  the  blue  went  home  to  welcoming  throngs, 
gay  flaunting  banners,  cheers  and  shouts  of  '•  Well  done !  " 
The  soldiers  of  the  gray --that  gray  faded  almost  out  of  remem- 
brance, tattered  and  travel-torn  almost  beyond  repair  —  went 
home  to  welcomes  just  as  warm.  They  may  have  met  regrets  and 
murmurings  perhaps  over  the  end  that  had  been  defeat,  but  it 
was  defeat  bravely  kept  at  bay  through  many  bitter  months; 
and  so,  after  all,  the  home-coming  of  the  Southern  soldier  was 
a  time  of  happiness  and  of  joy  to  the  war-spent  veterans  who 
had  left  their  arms  and  artillery  parked  and  stacked  at  Appo- 
mattox,  at  Raleigh,  or  at  Shreveport  and  had  taken  nothing  to 


278  BOOTS  AND   SADDLE. 

their  homes  but  their  well-worn  uniforms  and  a  sense  of  duty 
—  as  they  had  understood  it  —  valiantly  done. 

The  ravages  of  war  had  worked  havoc  in  many  a  gallant 
command.  Every  Northern  regiment  had  lost  heavily  in  battle 
and  yet  more  heavily  under  the  fell  hand  of  disease.  Of  the 
Fourth  Iowa  Infantry,  comprising  thirteen  hundred  men,  fully 


THE    HOMK-COMIN<;    OK    THE    SOUTHERN    SOLDIERS. 

one  thousand  had  laid  down  their  lives  for  their  country.  Of 
the  Fifth  Iowa  Infantry  which  enlisted  with  967  men  and  officers 
and  received  70  recruits,  89  were  killed  in  battle,  90  died  of 
disease,  281  were  wounded,  221  broken  in  health  were  dis- 
charged for  disability  and  96  were  captured  only  to  die  of  neg- 
lect in  rebel  prisons— a  terrible  tale  of  loss.  These  figures 


BOOTS  AND  SADDLE.  %  279 

could  be  paralleled  by  the  records  of  every  State  and  not  a 
veteran,  back  from  the  wars,  but  brought  with  him  tender 
memories  of  comrades  left  behind  and  of  nameless  graves  scat- 
tered all  over  the  sunny  South.  That  officers'  reunion  so  deli- 
cately pictured  by  Major  Halpine  could  find  its  counterpart  in 
many  an  after-war  celebration  : 


"  Three  years  ago  to-day 

We  raised  our  hands  to  heaven, 
And  on  the  rolls  of  muster 

Our  names  were  thirty-seven  ; 
There  were  just  a  thousand  bayonets, 

And  the  swords  were  thirty-seven, 
And  we  took  the  oath  of  .service 

With  our  right  hands  raised  to  heaven. 


"  Oh  !  'twas  a  gallant  day, 

In  memory  still  adored, 
That  day  of  our  sun-bright  nuptials 

With  the  musket  and  the  sword  ! 
Shrill  rang  the  fifes,  the  bugles  blared, 

And  beneath  a  cloudless  heaven 
Twinkled  a  thousand  bayonets, 

And  the  swords  were  thirty-seven. 

"  Of  the  thousand  stalwart  bayonets 

Two  hundred  march  to-day  ; 
Hundreds  lie  in  Virginia  swamps, 

And  hundreds  in  Maryland  clay; 
And  other  hundreds,  less  happy,  drag 

Their  shattered  limbs  around, 
And  envy  the  deep,  long,  blessed  sleep 

Of  the  battle-field's  holy  ground. 

"  For  the  swords  —  one  night,  a  week  ago, 

The  remnant,  just  eleven, 
Gathered  around  a  banqueting  board 

With  seats  for  thirty-seven  ; 


2So  BOOTS  AND    SADDLE. 

-5 

There  were  two  limped  in  on  crutches, 

And  two  had  each  but  a  hand  « 

To  pour  the  wine  and  raise  the  cup 
As  we  toasted  '  Our  flag  and  land  ! ' 

"  And  the  room  seemed  filled  with  whispers 

As  we  looked  at  the  vacant  seats, 
And.  with  choking  throats,  we  pushed  aside 

The  rich  but  untasted  meats; 
Then  in  silence  we  brimmed  our  glasses, 

As  we  rose  up  —  just  eleven  — 
And  bowed  as  we  drank  to  the  loved  and  the  dead 

Who  had  made  us  thirty-seven  !  " 

Within  six  months  after  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy  the 
million  or  more  soldiers  of  the  Union  had  returned  to  their 
homes.  The  vast  Volunteer  Army  of  the  United  States  was 
a  thing  of  the  past.  The  regular  army  being  a  national  organi- 
zation was  still  kept  at  its  full  standard  of  fifty  thousand  men 
and  was  employed  in  garrison  duty  and  post  service  in  the 
South  and  West.  The  United  States  was  divided  into  five 
Military  Divisions  and  these  were  subdivided  into  nineteen 
Departments.  Among  these  departments  the  standing  army  of 
the  United  States  was  distributed. 

Foreign  nations  had  declared  that  so  larofe  a  force  of  armed 

o  o 

men  could  not  be  disbanded  without  trouble  and  possible  anar- 
chy. Events  proved  the  falsity  of  this  prophecy  and  the  re- 
action of  restlessness  that  is  to  be  looked  for  after  every  great 
war  found  expression  in  but  two  brief  and  purposeless  eruptions 
-the  "Fenian"  excitement  of  1866  and  the  "Ku-Klux"  dis- 
orders of  1867-69.  Both  were  erratic,  both  were  foolhardy 
and,  to  a  certain  degree,  picturesque.  Both  called  for  military 
intervention  to  overawe  and  disintegrate  them  and  neither  of 
them  were  in  step  with  the  desires  or  the  spirit  of  the  .Amer- 
ican people. 


BOOTS  AND   SADDLE,  281 

General  Thomas  \V.  Sweeney,  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
Fenian  Invasion  of  Canada  in  1866,  was  a  brave  and  dashing 
American  soldier.  He  had  lost  an  arm  at  Cherubusco,  while 
serving  under  Scott  in  Mexico;  he  had  in  1851  held  Fort  Yuma 
in  California  against  a  large  Indian  force,  though  he  and  his  men 
were  at  starvation's  door;  he  had  bravely  kept  his  charge  of 
the  United  States  arsenal  in  St.  Louis,  with  but  forty  men, 
against  three  thousand  clamorous  Secessionists  saying:  "I'll 
blow  it  up  and  you  with  it  before  I  surrender;  there  are  only 
forty  of  us  to  die !  he  had  served  under  Grant  at  Donelson 
and  been  made  a  brigadier-general  for  his  bravery  in  the 
war. 

With  Sweeney  in  the  Canadian  invasion  of  1866  were  other 
veteran  soldiers,  filled  with  Irish  enthusiasm  and  hatred  of 
England.  But  the  United  States,  wisely,  was  true  to  her 
treaty-promises.  General  Meade  and  a  sufficient  force  were 
dispatched  to  the  border,  the  invader's  supplies  were  cut  off 
and  the  adventurers  finally  surrendered  to  the  power  of  the 
United  States.  A  later  Fenian  outbreak  in  1870  was  repelled 
by  the  Canadian  militia  and  scattered  by  a  United  States 
marshal. 

The  Southern  restlessness  was  more  serious  because  more 
secret.  Dissatisfied  men,  rendered  venomous  by  defeat  and 
angered  by  the  seeming  inequalities  of  "reconstruction  "  sought 
to  reverse  the  decision  of  the  war,  to  terrorize  the  negro  and 
keep  Northern  life  and  capital  from  the  land  that  so  needed 
this  aid  to  right  development.  With  a  secrecy  and  an  organi- 
zation that  smacked  of  mediaeval  barbarism  they  banded 
together  under  an  oath  more  picturesque  than  practical :  "  I 
swear  that  by  daylight  and  darkness,  at  all  times  and  on  all 
occasions,  the  steel  shall  pay  the  debt  of  steel,  the  lead  shall 


282  BOOTS  AND   SADDLE. 

recompense  for  lead,  the  Southern  Cross  shall  yet  defy  the 
world ! " 

There  was  much  more  to  the  same  effect,  but  the  valor  that 
skulks  in  the  shadow  and  strikes  in  the  dark  is  the  weakest 
sort  of  courage  and  usually  comes  to  grief.  Under  vigorous 
measures  and  the  presence  of  the  United  States  soldier  in  the 
disturbed  sections  the  attempt  at  air  American  vendetta  was 
stamped  out  and  the  K.  K.  K.  is  now  only  a  phase  of  the 
picturesque  lunacies  of  America. 

So   too   in   the    reconstruction  troubles  through  which   the 

O 

Southern  States  had  naturally  to  pass  before  entire  peace 
and  unimpeded  law  were  restored  the  soldiers  of  the  United 
States  called  repeatedly  to  unquiet  sections,  established  the 
national  authority  and  brought  rest  to  the  yet  disorganized 
communities. 

Gradually  the  East  grew  quiet;  the  after-grumblings  of 
strife  were  stilled ;  the  ravages  of  war  were  charitably  covered 
over  by  a  growing  respect  between  men  and  by  the  healing  forces 
of  nature.  Only  in  the  West  was  there  disquiet  and  unrest. 
There  cavalrymen  became  hunters  and  soldiers  scouts  as  the 
musket  and  sword  that  had  conquered  on  Southern  battle-fields 
were  turned  against  the  red-men  of  the  plains,  the  canons  and 
the  lava  beds. 

For  years  the  Indians  of  the  far  West  have  been  the  tool 
and  sport  of  American  mismanagement.  Injustice  always 
breeds  discontent  and  this,  in  the  simple  mind,  leads  to  a  desire 
for  revenge.  The  barbarian  is  ever  a  child  and  must  strike 
when  struck  or  abuse  when  abused.  So  Navajo  and  Piegan, 
Apache  and  Modoc,  Sioux  and  Nez  Perce  and  Ute,  tricked  in 
trade,  robbed  by  agents,  worried  by  settlers,  alternately  cajoled 
and  threatened,  petted  and  harried,  have  turned  protests  into 


r 


CUSTKR'S  LAST 


BOOTS  AND   SADDLE. 


285 


uprisings  and  pleas  into  massacres  until  alike  good  and  bad 
have  fallen  beneath  their  vengeance,  the  army  has  been  kept 
on  the  alert  and  the  red-man  himself,  always  defeated,  .is 
becoming  more  and  more  a  dependent  and  a  serf. 

From  the  Apache  and  Cheyenne  troubles  of  1863  and  '64 
until  the  successful  policy  of  General  Crook  in  1883,  the 
twenty  years  of  frontier  trouble  have  been  full  of  peril,  of 
action  and  of  blood. 

The  Indian  policy  of  the  Government  has  been  fickle, 
illiberal,  faithless  and  bad,  the  moral  influence  of  the  soldiers 
upon  the  red-men  has  been  of  the  worst  character,  the  military 
rule  to  which  they  have  been  subjected  has  been  autocratic, 
tyrannical  and  full  of  harm,  and  the  Indian  wars  of  the  United 
States  have  been,  largely,  of  the  nation's  own  making. 

But,  as  has  before  been  shown,  the  causes  of  a  war  do  not 
always  govern  the  character  of  the  fighters  in  that  war  and  the 
bravery  of  the  American  soldier  in  his  encounters  with  the 
"hostiles"  of  the  mountains  and  the  plains  has  been  above 
criticism,  positive  and  obstinate.  Shirland  and  his  California 
volunteers,  the  captors  of  Mangas  Colorado  the  Apache;  Chiv- 
ington  and  his  avengers  at  the  camp  of  Black  Kettle  the  Chey- 
enne; Fetterman  and  his  eighty-four  regulars  making  their 
last  tragic  stand  against  two  thousand  Northern  Indians  on 
Lodge  Trail  Ridge ;  Powell  and  his  thirty  men  at  bay,  but 
finally  defeating  with  terrible  loss  Red  Cloud  and  his  twenty- 
five  hundred  Sioux ;  Miles  and  his  brave  four  hundred  in  the 
Wolf  Mountains;  the  half-dozen  cavalrymen  of  the  gallant 
Sixth,  holding  their  ground  for  thirty-six  hours  against  a  force 
of  splendidly-mounted  Kiowas  and  Comanches,  twenty-five  to 
one ;  Crook  and  his  plucky  New  Mexican  riders  —  wherever 
the  bugle  has  sounded  "  boots  and  saddle  !  "  the  Indian  fighter 


286  BOOTS  AND    SADDLE. 

who  wears  the  blue  has  proved  his  right  to  the  name  of  fighter 
indeed. 

But,  in  all  the  sad  and  sorry  story  of  Indian  atrocity  and 
American  treachery,  of  Indian  bravery  and  American  valor 
there  is  no  paragraph  more  startling,  more  bloody  or  more 
dramatic  than  is  that  which  tells  of  the  last  gallant  stand  of 
Custer  and  his  men  —  the  Battle  of  Little  Big  Horn. 

It  is  the  climax  of  all  Indian  warfare  from  the  days  of 
Philip  of  Pokanoket  to  those  of  Sitting  Bull  the  Sioux  and 
Geronimo  the  Apache,  and  is  all  the  more  absorbing  because 
of  the  mystery  that  shrouds  it  and  its  hints  at  desperate  valor 
which,  alas  !  no  man  of  all  that  brave  four  hundred  lives  to 
prove  or  disprove. 

General   George    Armstrong  Custer  of   the  Seventh   U.  S. 

o  o 

Cavalry  was,  in  many  respects,  America's  bcati  sabrcur.  The 
choice  of  McClellan  and  the  favorite  of  Sheridan,  he  was  the 
idol  of  his  own  hard-riders  and  the  envy  of  his  Indian  foemen. 
His  very  appearance  was  striking  and  picturesque  as,  in  his 
broad  cavalier's  hat,  his  gold-bedizened  jacket  and  high  cavalry 
boots,  with  his  long  yellow  hair  flying  in  the  wind  he  would 
ride  like  a  tornado  against  rebel  cavalrv  or  Indian  warrior — a 

O  ^ 

subject  worthy  Vandyke's  pencil,  the  very  type  of  the  dash- 
ing trooper  of  romance. 

The  war  over,  he  was  assigned  to  duty  on  the  plains  and 
became  the  most  daring  and  most  successful  of  the  Indian 
fighters  of  1870.  On  the  fifteenth  of  May,  1876,  Custer  was 
ordered  to  lead  his  regiment,  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  as  the 
advance  of  a  joint  expedition  against  the  hostile  Sioux.  On 
the  morning  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  with  five  companies  of 
his  command  amounting  to  not  over  four  hundred  men,  he  fell 
into  a  cleverly-arranged  ambuscade  of  the  confederated  Sioux 


BOOTS  AND   SADDLE.  2g7 

backed  by  a  force  of  at  least  three  thousand  Indian  warriors. 
A  desperate  fight  ensued.  Valiantly  holding  his  ground,  vainly 
looking  for  the  help  that  came  not,  stubbornly  at  bay  but  calm, 
cool  and  courageous  to  the  last  Custer  fell  fighting  and  his 
devoted  soldiers  to  a  man  fell,  also  fighting,  around  the  body  of 
their  chief. 

Blinded  by  a  savage  ruse,  himself  the  victim  of  political 
wiles  that  had  stirred  up  his  fighting  blood  and  driven  him  to  a 
determination  to  "  make  his  mark  "  once  more,  Custer's  un- 
guarded advance  and  reckless  charge  were,  perhaps,  unwise 
generalship,  but  they  were  the  chief  ingredients  of  heroism  and 
a  dauntless  courage  and  as  such  have  given  him  an  immortality 
that  will  ever  make  him  the  typical  Indian  fighter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Much  is  forgiven  to  valor;  a  brave  man's 
death  covers  all  mistakes. 

Of  other  instances  of  soldierly  courage  in  the  Indian  fights 
that  have  become  a  part  of  American  history  since  1865,  there 
are  many  on  record.  There  is  always  a  fascination  to  us  around 
the  stories  of  life  "  among  the  red-skins,"  and,  ignoring  always 
the  Indian's  side  of  the  question,  we  listen  with  quickened  pulse 
and  brightening  eyes  to  the  account  of  how  Clark  and  his  forty- 
eight  men  held  over  seven  hundred  "  hostiles  "  at  bay  for 
fully  three  hours  of  battle;  how  Sergeant  Taylor  at  the  risk  of 
his  life  rescued  his  lieutenant  (now  Captain  Charles  King,  the 
soldier-novelist)  from  Apache  arrows,  supporting  his  wounded 
officer  with  one  arm  and  with  the  other  managing  his  deadly 
carbine;  how  private  John  Nihill  acted  as  a  "  flanker  "  to  his 
eight  comrades  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry  in  the  heart  of  the  White- 
stone  mountains  and  held  forty  Indians  at  bay  so  that  his 
brother-soldiers  could  escape  from  the  ambush ;  how  Amos 
Chapman,  the  scout  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  leaped  across  the 


288  BOOTS  AND   SADDLE. 

body  of  his  fallen  comrade  and  held  off  the  circling  Comanclies 
until  he  could  "  shoulder  "  the  wounded  man  and  bear  him  out 
of  the  death-trap  into  which  he  had  fallen  ;  how  private  William 
Evans,  of  the  Seventh  Infantry,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  his  life 
carried  dispatches  for  General  Crook  through  a  country  inhab- 
ited by  hostile  Sioux,  dodging  death  all  the  way ;  how  Sergeant 
William  Lewis  of  the  Third  Cavalry  won  a  medal  from  Con- 
gress for  volunteering  to  discover  the  whereabouts  of  Little 
Wolf  and  his  Cheyenne  warriors  —  all  these  we  hear  with 
pride  as  we  do  the  countless  other  tales  of  risk  and  daring,  of 
dash  and  valor  that  illumine  the  otherwise  dull  details  of 
army  life  on  the  plains  and  make  vivid  finger-marks  on  the 
annals  of  Indian  warfare. 

And  that  later  element  in  American  military  life  —  the 
black  soldier,  what  of  him  ?  Admitted  to  citizenship  the  negro 
has  also  been  raised  to  equality,  and  his  service  as  a  soldier 
dates  from  Fort  Wagner  and  its  bloody  assault.  They  are  now 
faithful  soldiers  in  the  Regular  army.  Certain  regiments,  as 
for  instance  the  Tenth  United  States  Cavalry,  are  composed  of 
negro  soldiers  and  have  seen  active  service  on  the  plains.  Will 
they  fight  ?  That  question,  says  Mr.  Remington,  "  is  easily 
answered.  They  have  fought  many,  many  times.  The  old 
sergeant  sitting  near  me,  as  calm  of  feature  as  a  bronze  statue, 
once  deliberately  walked  over  a  Cheyenne  rifle-pit  and  killed 
his  man.  One  little  fellow  near  him  once  took  charge  of  a  lot 

O 

of  stampeded  cavalry-horses  when  Apache  bullets  were  flying- 
loose  and  no  one  knew  from  what  point  to  expect  them  next. 
These  little  episodes  prove  the  sometimes  doubted  self-reliance 
of  the  negro." 

Equally  savage  with  the  wild  warriors  of  the  plains,  the  "  wolf- 
reared  children  "  of  Eastern  civilization  have  now  and  again 


BOOTS  AND   SADDLE.  289 

proved  the  need  of  the  restraining  arm  of  power.  The  same 
brutal  element  that  in  the  New  York  draft  riots  of  1863, 
terrorized  a  great  city  until  the  veterans  from  the  front  could 


ONCK    MUKE    A    CIVILIAN. 


master  and  quell  them,  has,  since  the  war-days,  on  two  or  three 
occasions  sprung  with  snarl  and  growl  at  the  throat  of  society 
and  sought  to  strangle  where  it  could  not  rule. 


290  BOOTS  AND    SADDLE. 

The  Orange  riots  of  1871  in  New  York  City,  the  Railroad 
strikes  of  the  Middle  and  Western  States  in  1877  and  the  anar- 
chist plots  of  a  later  day  have  been  quelled  only  by  the  law 
of  the  bullet  and  the  bayonet  while  in  one  case  at  least  the 
militia  of  the  States  showed  that  even  when  the  sympathy  of 
the  soldier  was  with  the  victim  of  capital's  oppression  his  duty 
as  an  instrument  of  law  and  order  rose  superior  to  his  sym- 
pathies. Only  the  loyalty  of  the  militia  and  the  superb  dis- 
cipline of  the  regulars  kept  the  two  weeks  of  terror  in  1877 
from  developing  into  a  time  of  anarchy  and  mob-domination. 

The  peaceful  work  of  the  soldier  in  the  years  since  the 
Rebellion  has  been  of  no  little  value  to  American  life  and 
progress.  The  great  Centennial  Exhibition  of  1876  was  made 
a  marvel  of  regularity  and  good  order  by  the  directing  hand  of 
one  of  the  nation's  bravest  soldiers,  General  Hawley  of  Con- 
necticut. And  in  the  elaborate  display  made  by  the  United 
States  government  at  that  great  exposition  the  part  contributed 
by  the  War  Department  was  both  suggestive  and  creditable. 
Here  were  model  monitors,  huge  Rodman  guns,  pontoons, 
bridge  trains  and  army  wagons.  Cartridge  making  went  on 
before  the  eyes  of  the  spectators  and  the  exhibits  entered  by  the 
Engineer  Corps  and  the  Signal  Service  were  especially  valuable. 

From  the  davs  of    Pike    and    Lon£    to  those  of    Fremont 

^  O 

and  the  later  explorers  of  our  Western  lands,  the  army  of  the 
United  States  has  been  foremost  in  expeditions  of  research  and 
discovery  in  the  remote  and  unknown  sections  of  the  nation's 
broadening  empire.  And,  in  these  recent  years,  the  cause  of 
science  owes  to  the  brave  investigations,  under  most  adverse 
circumstances,  of  two  gallant  American  soldiers,  Schwatka  and 
Greely,  its  latest  information  as  to  the  lands  and  peoples  about 
the  frozen  Pole. 


HOOTS  AND   SADDLE.  291 

Of  the  four  presidents  of  the  United  States,  elected  to  that 
office  since  the  death  of  Lincoln,  three  have  been  soldiers,  with 
enviable  records  for  leadership,  valor  and  ability  in  the  great 
Rebellion  and  in  the  series  of  centennial  celebrations,  stretch- 
ing through  the  years  from  1876  to  1889,  the  military  displays 
have  formed  at  once  a  picturesque  and  most  important  part. 

There  has  been  much  cheap  wit  expended  by  so-called 
humorists  and  caricaturists  upon  the  regular  army  of  the 
United  States.  There  have  been  querulous  and  dismal  prophe- 
cies indulged  in  by  many  self-appointed  critics  as  to  the  meager- 
ness  and  uselessness  of  this  little  force;  but  it  is  worthy  of  note 
that  in  a  free  country  whose  citizens  have  equal  voice  in  making 
and  executing  laws  and  who,  in  time  of  stress  are  to  be  depended 
upon  to  furnish  from  their  eight  million  available  fighting 
men  force  enough  to  meet  and  repel  any  hostile  endeavor  that 
foreign  foes  may  make,  the  peace  policy  and  the  small  army 
enable  all  the  vast  resources  of  so  great  a  nation  to  be  consis- 
tently developed  and  made  serviceable.  The  standing  armies 
of  Europe  exceed  two  millions  of  men,  the  regular  army  of  the 
United  States  is  but  twenty-five  thousand;  the  arable  land  of 
the  United  States  is  fully  two  square  miles  to  Europe's  one, 
the  war-debt  of  the  American  republic  is  less  than  half 
the  war-debt  of  Europe;  in  the  embattled  nations  of  Europe, 
one  in  five  of  all  the  able-bodied  men  is  a  soldier  in  active  serv- 
ice, in  the  United  States  only  one  in  four  hundred  is  a  soldier. 

The  "standing  army"  of  the  United  States,  therefore,  is  not 
and  can  never  be  a  menace  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.  It 
is  not  even  a  standing  army.  It  is,  as  General  Kautz  has 
well  demonstrated,  "  nothing  more  than  the  custodian  of  what 
military  knowledge  exists  in  the  country." 

But  the  lessons  of  past  experience  show  how  long  and  how 


292  BOOTS  AND   SADDLE. 

expensive  a  task  it  is  to  convert  the  volunteer  into  a  veteran. 
The  hope  of  the  nation  is  its  volunteer  militia  and  it  should  be 
the  desire  as  it  is  the  duty  of  the  people  of  America  to  devise 
some  system  by  which,  discounting  the  necessity  that  it  is 
hoped  may  never  arise,  the  National  Guard  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  so  schooled  and  disciplined  as  to  convert  them 
into  sturdy  and  available  fighters  whenever  the  occasion  for 
answering  the  call  to  arms  shall  arise. 

New  occasions  demand  new  duties.  The  old  fighters  are 
dropping  away  one  by  one.  The  leaders  whose  names  were 
household  words  during  the  years  of  civil  war  are  becoming 
only  honored  and  enduring  memories.  But  American  pluck 
and  valor,  strength  and  sturdiness,  will  and  loyalty  yet  live  and 
it  is  possible  for  the  future  to  repeat  the  glories  and  achieve- 
ments of  the  past. 

It  has  a  noble  example  as  its  guide.  The  American  soldier 
in  the  Civil  War  and  in  the  years  that  followed  those  days  of 
peril  and  endeavor  has  never  had  his  equal  in  the  generations 
that  went  before,  nor  been  excelled  in  courage,  in  manliness 
and  humanity  in  any  army  that  ever  marched  to  conquest  or 
valiantly  fought  for  liberty. 

"There  never  was  a  war,"  wrote  Mr.  Hugh  McCullough, 
"in  which  the  best  qualities  of  soldiers  —  courage,  patience, 
endurance  —  were  so  conspicuous  on  both  sides.  I  do  not 
exaggerate  when  I  say  that  Napoleon,  who  startled  the  world 
by  his  brilliant  achievements,  had  not  under  his  command, 
when  nearly  all  Europe  was  at  his  feet,  lieutenants  of  higher 
accomplishments  as  soldiers  than  C.  F.  Smith  and  McPherson 
and  Reynolds  and  Sedgwick  and  W.  H.  Wallace,  and  Couch 
and  Custer  and  Curtis  and  Humphreys  and  Gilmore  and 
Sickles  and  Kearney  and  Reno  and  Lyttle  and  Doubleday 


BOOTS  AND   SADDLE.  293 

and  Cox  and  Lew  Wallace  and  Stoneman  and  Hayes  and 
Gresham  and  Ricketts  and  Granger  and  Wood  and  Palmer 
and  Steadman  and  Gearey  and  Mitchell  and  Wadsworth  and 
Sumner  and  scores  of  others  of  the  same  stamp  whose  names 
are  inscribed  on  the  rolls  of  their  country's  honor.  Many  of 
them  sealed  with  their  blood  their  devotion  to  the  Union. 
Their  names  will  always  be  especially  dear  to  their  country- 
men. Not  to  Grant  alone,  but  to  such  as  these  and  to  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  —  officers  and  privates  who 
imperilled  their  lives  in  its  support  —  is  the  nation  indebted  for 
its  integrity." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


THE    VETERAN    SOLDIER. 


N  the  first  of  May,  1889,  as 
the  third  in  the  series  of 
great  centennial  parades 
in  the  city  of  New  York 
swept  by  the  crowded 
reviewing  stand,  there 
marched  for  inspection 
before  the  President  of 
the  United  States  eight 
battalions  of  New  York 
schoolboys.  With  eyes 
front,  with  heads  erect 

and  with  swinging  steps  perfectly  timed  the  three  thousand 
young  paraders  went  clown  the  brilliant  Avenue,  their  measured 
tramp  —  tramp  —  tramp  telling  alike  of  superb  discipline  and 
of  boyish  determination  to  do  well  the  part  assigned  them. 
For  fully  half  an  hour  the  steady  march  went  on  and  as  the 
president,  in  supreme  delight,  watched  the  rigid  lines  of  fresh 
young  faces,  he  declared  emphatically  that  in  all  the  thousands 
that  had  passed  before  him  in  review  none  had  appeared  more 
soldier-like  than  these.  And  while  General  Sherman  vowed 

that  the  boys  marched  better  than  veterans  and  all  the  air  was 

294 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  295 

white  with  fluttering  handkerchiefs  and  vocal  with  approving 
cheers,  one  enthusiastic  on-looker  was  heard  to  exclaim  :  "  Thank 
God  I  am  an  American  ! " 

It  was  a  prophecy  of  the  future.  All  the  day  before  the 
flower  of  America's  citizen  soldiery  had  passed  that  same  re- 
viewing stand,  a  token  of  the  triumphant  present.  But  in 
those  serried  ranks  of  young  Americans  marched  the  promise 
of  the  nation ;  for  what  the  schoolboys  of  one  city  in  the  land 
can  do  that  can  the  lads  of  all  the  land  perform.  Come  peace 
or  war,  come  need  or  cause  for  service  it  is  upon  such  as  these 
that  the  nation  must"  depend  for  worth  and  valor,  it  is  from 
such  as  these  that  alike  volunteer  and  veteran  must  be  made. 
The  youth  of  the  Republic  hold  ever  its  keeping  and  its  life 
in  their  hands. 

The  promise  of  the  Future  fitly  followed  in  that  national 
display  the  grandeur  of  the  Present  and  the  glory  of  the  Past. 
On  the  second  day  of  that  historic  parade  and  from  that  same 
reviewing  stand,  the  President  of  the  United  States  had  looked 
down  upon  a  gallant  host  —  the  Nation's  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  its  first  soldier-president.  What  his  twenty-second  successor 
saw  was,  as  one  chronicler  has  described  it:  "An  army  larger 
than  that  first  called  into  the  field  by  President  Lincoln  to  sup- 
press the  Rebellion,  and  alongside  of  which  the  Continental 
forces  in  many  a  famous  Revolutionary  battle  seem  a  corporal's 
guard,  called,  most  of  it,  from  the  pursuits  of  peace,  yet 
still  maintaining  the  discipline  and  outward  show  of  actual 
warfare;  Hitterinor  ranks  of  infantry,  battalion  after  battalion, 

7      O  O  * 

whose  infinite  variety  of  color  and  movement  alone  prevent  the 
tiring  of  all  the  senses;  cavalry,  and  artillery  clattering  in  their 
gorgeous  red  and  yellow  uniforms  over  the  smooth  cobble- 
stones; the  dashing  staff,  all  lace  and  plumes;  generals  of  brig- 


296  THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 

ade,  generals  of  division,  Governors  of  States,  an  almost  endless 
file  of  the  varied  representatives  of  the  military  strength  of  the 
Nation,  gathered  to  be  reviewed  by  its  Chief  Magistrate — a 
picture  notable  in  the  history  of  this  pacific  Republic." 

And,  not  the  least  impressive  sight  in  all  that  gallant  array 
that  met  the  President's  eye,  was  the  appearance  in  line  of  the 
more  than  eight  thousand  veterans  in  blue  —  the  representa- 
tives of  that  comradeship  of  old  soldiers  known  as  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic. 

The  warm  spring  sun  only  served  to  emphasize  by  its 
searching  brilliancy  the  worn  and  faded  shreds  of  bunting,  held 
proudly  aloft  above  the  ranks  of  blue  —  those  wind-torn  and 
bullet-riddled  banners  that  were  all  that  remained  of  the  old- 
time  battle-flags.  There  were  gray  heads  and  grizzled  beards 
in  plenty,  for  the  years  have  touched  alike  the  vigor  and  the 
looks  of  those  who,  a  quarter  of  a  century  back,  were  sturdy 
and  valiant  young  fighters  in  the  ranks  of  Liberty  and  Law. 
An  empty  sleeve  here,  a  halting  step  there,  a  shrunken  form  or 
a  scarred  face  showed  that,  for  these  veterans  of  the  nation's 
mightiest  conflict,  the  great  parade  of  1889  was  as  much  a  duty 
to  old  memories  as  a  pendant  to  present  glory.  In  the  ranks 
of  those  eight  thousand  veterans,  beneath  the  tattered  and 
faded  battle-flags,  marched  the  living  presence  of  the  storm- 
awakened  spirit  of  1 86 1. 

The  comradeships  of  war  are  its  choicest  memorials.  .The 
fellow-soldiers  who  have  touched  elbow  and  kept  step  together, 
comrades  at  mess,  on  picket,  in  drill,  in  march  and  battle,  who 
have  suffered  together,  grumbled  together,  "skylarked"  to- 
gether and,  together,  experienced  all  the  woes  and  worries,  the 
fun  and  frolic,  the  drills  and  disciplines,  the  excitements  and 
exultations  of  life  in  camp  and  service  in  the  field  become 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 


297 


brothers  in  arms,  indeed,  and  develop  a  fraternity  and  spirit 
of  kinship  that,  even  though  sometimes  clannish  and  assertive, 
still  welds  all  the  firmer  that  bond  of  brotherhood  that  holds 
them  fast  as  comrades  and  as  friends  long  after  the  deeds  that 


THE    STORY    OK    THE    FIGHT. 


brought    them     into    sympathy    have     become    but    indistinct 
memories. 

It  is  asserted  that,  not  long  ago,  at  a  concert  in  a  Western 
town  a  veteran  in  the  audience  whose  knowledge  of  music  was 
less  positive  than  his  loyalty  to  old  associations  broke  out  into 
such  uproarious  applause  over  the  music  of  the  noble  Twelfth 
Mass  that  the  ushers  hastened  to  quiet  his  enthusiasm.  "  Keep 


298  THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 

quiet?"  he  replied  indignantly.  "Not  much  I  mustn't,  not 
when  that  is  being  played.  I  used  to  belong  to  that  regiment, 
and  I'll  shout  for  the  boys  as  long  as  the  Almighty  gives  me 
breath."  "  That  regiment ;  what  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  the 
usher,  puzzled  at  this  reply.  "  Why,  that's  what  I  mean,"  said 
the  veteran,  pointing  to  a  number  on  the  programme.  "  There 
it  is.  Twelfth  Mass.  That's  my  regiment.  The  old  Twelfth 

./  <^-j 

Massachusetts.  We  fought  from  Bull  Run  to  Five  Forks." 
And  it  was  only  when  he  was  convined  that  the  Twelfth  Mass 
was  a  piece  of  church  music  and  not  a  regimental  march  that 
the  loyal  old  comrade  quieted  down  again. 

The  American  Soldier  has  ever  loved  to  keep  up  the  old 
associations  though  the  hand  that  has  held  the  musket  and  the 
foot  that  has  kept  the  rhythmic  step  have  both  lost  their  old-time 
precision  and  forgotten  their  old-time  cunning. 

Before  the  Army  of  the  Revolution  was  disbanded,  on  the 
fifteenth  of  April,  1783,  General  Henry  Knox  suggested  the 
permanent  organization  of  the  surviving  officers  of  those  days 
of  struggle  into  a  society  that  should  keep  the  old  friendships 
alive  and  extend  needed  help  to  its  members.  The  plan  found 
favor  with  the  brother-officers  of  Washington's  trusted  friend 
and  Chief-of-staff.  The  society  was  duly  organized  and  taking 
its  name  from  the  old  Roman  patriot  Cincinnatus  was  called 
the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  At  the  first  meeting  after  the 
disbanding  of  the  army,  held  at  the  City  Tavern  in  Philadelphia 
in  1784,  Washington  was  elected  President-General.  The  presi- 
dents of  the  Society  since  Washington  have  been  Alexander 
Hamilton,  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  Thomas  Pinckney,  Aaron 
Ogden,  Morgan  Lewis,  William  Popham,  Henry  A.  S.  Dear- 
born and  Hamilton  Fish. 

The  objects  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  as  proclaimed 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  299 

at  its  organization,  were :  "  To  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of 
the  achievement  of  national  independence  as  well  as  the  mutual 
friendships  which  have  been  formed  under  the  pressure  of  com- 
mon danger  and  in  many  instances  cemented  by  the  blood  of 
the  parties."  It  was  further  asserted  that  it  was  the  unalterable 
determination  of  the  members  of  the  Cincinnati  "  to  promote 
and  cherish  between  the  respective  States  that  union  and 
national  honor  so  essentially  necessary  to  the  happiness  and 
future  dignity  of  the  American  Empire." 

Harmless  and  patriotic  as  these  proclaimed  purposes  would 
seem  there  still  existed  in  the  breasts  of  the  earliest  American 
democrats  so  strong  a  feeling  against  anything  that  smacked 
of  the  aristocratic  element  they  had  confederated  to  put  down 
that  a  bitter  opposition  against  the  new  society  was  speedily 
abroad  and  for  years  its  members  were  regarded  with  suspicion 
and  denounced  by  over-zealous  patriots.  Mirabeau  saw  in  the 
society  the  seed  of  ruin  to  the  new  republic  and  declared  that 
in  less  than  a  century,  it  would  have  reduced  America  to  the 
condition  of  old  Rome — a  nation  divided  into  patricians  and 
plebeians. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  alike  the  opposition  of 
fellow-countrymen  and  the  prophecies  of  foreign  critics  were 
unnecessary.  The  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  has  ever  remained 
the  same  honorable  and  harmless  association  of  heroes  and  the 
sons  of  heroes  that  its  founders  contemplated.  It  has  been  for 
years  an  honored  American  order  of  moderate  dimensions 
and  of  quiet  ways,  meeting  semi-occasionally  at  banquets  and 
reunions  and  always  loyal  to  the  one  toast,  drank  standing  and 
in  silence  :  "  To  the  memory  of  Washington  ! 

The  \Var  of  1812  and  that  against  Mexico  had  their  associa- 
tions of  veterans  while  the  great  strife  against  secession  has 


300  THE    VETERAA?  SOLDIER. 

left  as  its  legacy  to  friendship  the  strong  and  active  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  "  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic." 

SprinsfinG:  from  humble  beginnings  in  the  brain  of  an  Illi- 

i  C5       C5  *3>  o* 

nois  physician  who  had  served  as  a  surgeon  in  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion  --  Dr.  Benjamin  F.  Stephenson  —  this  organization 
of  veteran  Union  soldiers  has,  since  its  modest  beginning  at 
Decatur,  Illinois,  on  the  sixth  of  April,  1866,  grown  to  great 
proportions  and  now  possesses  a  membership  of  fully  four  hun- 
dred thousand. 

Its  objects,  according  to  the  proclamation  of  its  first  national 
convention,  are :  "  to  preserve  and  strengthen  those  kind  and 
fraternal  feelings  which  bind  together  the  soldiers,  sailors  and 
marines  who  united  to  suppress  the  late  Rebellion  and  to  per- 
petuate the  memory  and  history  of  the  dead.  To  assist  such 
former  comrades  in  arms  as  need  help  and  protection,  and  to 
extend  needful  aid  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who 
have  fallen.  To  maintain  true  allegiance  to  the  United  States 

O 

of  America  based  upon  a  paramount  respect  for  and  fidelity  to 
its  constitution  and  laws,  to  discountenance  whatever  tends  to 
weaken  loyalty,  incites  to  insurrection,  treason  and  rebellion  or 
in  any  manner  impairs  the  efficiency  and  permanency  of  our 
free  institutions ;  and  to  encourage  the  spread  of  universal 
liberty,  equal  rights  and  justice  to  all  men." 

Here  certainly  is  nothing  that  would  seem  to  indicate  an 
attempt  at  political  dictation  or  a  design  upon  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States  for  the  unlimited  pensioning  of  all  who  have 
worn  the  blue.  And  yet,  such  are  the  criticisms  made  against 
this  noble  organization  of  old  friends  and  comrades  by  those 
who  seek  to  belittle  its  worth  or  to  misjudge  its  motives. 
Surely  no  veteran  soldier  of  the  United  States  who  still  loves 
the  old  flag  for  which  he  risked  life  and  home  and  all  he  held 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  3oi 

most  dear  would  now  seek  to  sully  his  past  or  degrade  the 
tattered  banner  to  which  he  proudly  points  as  the  chief  relic  of 
that  stirring  time  of  war,  by  placing  a  premium  on  patriotism 
and  declaring  that  the  government  to  whose  salvation  he  freely 
and  willingly  devoted  his  life  should  now  reimburse  him  for  his 
patriotism  and  make  merchandise  of  his  loyalty !  * 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  now  some  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand veteran  soldiers,  the  survivors  of  those  two  and  a  half 
millions  of  volunteers  who  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  the 
Union.  Distributed  through  all  the  departments  of  American 
life  and  labor,  from  president  to  plowman,  nothing  has  become 
them  so  well  as  the  readiness  with  which  they  fell  into  the  old 
life  again  and  changed  from  soldiers  to  citizens,  nothing  has  so 
emphasized  the  real  manhood  of  those  who  followed  the  flag  as 
the  kindly  spirit  which  they  display  toward  those  who  were 
their  foemen  in  the  field.  The  friendliness  that  pervaded  the 
opposing  camps  in  war  time  and '  displayed  itself  in  acts  of 
courtesy  on  the  picket  line  and  in  deeds  of  kindliness  at  Appo- 
mattox  lived  on  after  the  war  had  closed.  "  When  the  Union 
veteran  returned  to  the  North,"  says  Mr.  Kilmer,  "  he  did  not 
disguise  his  faith  in  the  good  intentions  of  the  Southern  fight- 
ing man,  and  for  a  number  of  years  after  peace  was  made,  the 
process  of  fraternization  went  quietly  forward.  The  business 
relations  of  the  sections  and  the  interchange  of  settlers  brought 
into  close  communication  the  rank  and  file  of  both  armies,  and 
the  spirit  of  good-will  that  had  been  manifested  in  a  manner  so 
unique  at  the  front  was  found  to  be  a  hearty  and  general 
sentiment.'' 

•That  the  United  States  has  been  generous  to  the  old  soldiers  of  the  nation  and  to  those  they  left  behind 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that,  to-day,  the  United  States  pension  rolls  contain  nearly  half  a  million  of  names. 
The  expenditures  for  pensions  in  1888  amounted  to  $82,000,000,  while  the  total  outlay  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment was  ^267,000,000.  The  expenditures  of  the  German  War  Office  for  the  year  ending  March  31,  1888,  were 
about  86,000,000.  The  cost  of  the  British  army  for  the  years  1886-87,  inclusive  of  pensions,  was  about  $91, 000,000. 


302  THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 

There  is  truth  indeed  in  the  old  saying  that  nothing  so 
makes  men  respect  one  another  as  standing  up  in  the  ranks  and 
firing  at  one  another.  The  cordial  manner  in  which  the  vete- 
rans of  the  blue  have  extended  again  and  again  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship  to  the  veterans  of  the  gray  is  the  best  proof  of 
American  manliness,  the  best  assurance  of  American  stability 
and  the  best  exposition  of  that  noble  hope  with  which  the 
greatest  victim  of  that  bloody  strife  closed  his  matchless  second 
inaugural:  "With  malice  toward  none,  with  chanty  for  all,  with 
firmness  in  the  right  as  God  giveth  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us 
strive  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's 
wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle  and  for 
his  widow  and  his  orphan,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all 
nations." 

On  each  recurring  Decoration  Day  the  flowers  of  remem- 
brance drop  on  the  graves  of  "Yank"  and  "Johnnie"  alike; 
in  the  reunions  of  war  veterans,  greetings  as  cordial  are  given 
to  old  foemen  as  to  old  friends;  and  in  all  this  the  grizzled 

o 

boys  in  blue  and  those  in  gray  are  but  carrying  out  the  spirit 
that  displayed  itself  twenty  years  ago  when  in  the  cemetery  at 
Columbus,  Mississippi,  the  Southern  women  let  fall  upon  the 
graves  of  those  whom  they  deemed  their  enemies  the  flowers 
they  had  gathered  to  strew  above  the  ashes  of  their  own  loved 
ones.  How  much  of  real  Christlikeness  there  is  in  the  lines* 
that  commemorated  this  act  of  kindliness  and  chanty: 

"  By  the  flow  of  the  inland  river 

Whence  the  fleets  of  iron  have  fled, 
Where  the  blades  of  the  grave-grass  quiver, 

Asleep  are  the  ranks  of  the  dead; 

*  Written  by  Frances  Miles  Finch,  and  first  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  September,  1867. 


THE  OLD   FLAG. 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  105 

Under  the  sod  and  the  dew 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  one,  the  Blue; 
I'ncler  the  other,  the  Gray. 

"  These,  in  the  robings  of  glory, 
Those  in  the  gloom  of  defeat ; 
All  with  the  battle-blood  gory, 
In  the  dusk  of  eternity  meet; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day  ; 
Under  the  laurel,  the  Blue  ; 
Under  the  willow,  the  (iray. 

"  From  the  silence  of  sorrowful  hours 

The  desolate  mourners  go, 
Lovingly  laden  with  flowers 

Alike  for  the  friend  and  the  foe ; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  roses,  the  Blue; 
Under  the  lilies,  the  Gray. 

"  So  with  an  equal  splendor 
The  morning  sun-rays  fall, 
With  a  touch  impartially  tender, 
On  the  blossoms  blooming  for  all ; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew. 

Waiting  the  judgment  day  ; 
Broidered  with  gold,  the  Blue, 
Mellowed  with  gold,  the  Gray. 

"  So  when  the  summer  calleth, 
On  forest  and  field  of  grain, 
With  an  equal  murmur  falleth 
The  cooling  drip  of  the  rain; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day  ; 
Wet  with  the  rain,  the  Blue; 
Wet  with  the  rain,  the  Gray. 


306  THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 

"  Sadly,  but  not  with  upbraiding, 
The  generous  deed  was  done  ; 
In  the  storm  of  the  years  that  are  fading, 
No  braver  battle  was  won ; 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  blossoms,  the  Blue; 
Under  the  garlands,  the  Gray. 

"  Xo  more  shall  the  war-cry  sever, 

( >r  the  winding  rivers  be  red  ; 
They  banish  our  anger  forever, 

"When  they  laurel  the  graves  of  our  dead: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Love  and  tears  for  the  Blue; 
Tears  and  love  for  the  Grav.'' 


For  twenty-five  years  the  noise  of  battle  has  been  absent 
from  the  land.  The  flight  of  the  murderous  bullet  sent  for  the 
subjection  or  the  subjugation  of  the  last  protesting  red-man 
becomes  less  and  less  frequent.  Since  Caster's  gallant  but 
fatal  fight  no  Indian  hostilities  have  risen  to  the  importance 
of  battle.  The  humdrum  of  garrison  life  and  the  narrowing 
sphere  of  duty  in  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  army  posts 
scattered  throughout  the  land  are  relaxing  for  the  soldiers  of 
peace  the  rigors  and  disciplines  of  war.  Progress  is  modifying 
the  methods  and  transforming  the  tactics  of  evolution  and 

O 

action.  "  In  another  decade,"  General  Kautz  declares,  u  there 
will  not  be  left  a  military  remnant  of  our  last  experience  that 
could  be  utilized,  for  the  improvement  and  changes  that  have 
been  made  in  the  means  of  warfare  will  require  new  and  original 
adaptations  of  our  resources."  The  hope  and  the  welfare 
of  our  national  defense  is  to  lie  not  in  a  small  and  alien- 
recruited  regular  army,  but  in  an  intelligent,  well-disciplined 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  307 

and  patriotic  State  militia,  drawn  from  the  youth  of  the  land 
and  cemented  by  a  system  of  national  organization  into  the 
volunteer  army  of  the  United  States — the  National  Guard  of 
the  Republic. 

According  to  the  latest  statistics  the  National  Guard  of  the 
several  States  now  amounts  in  the  aggregate  to  a  little  over 
one  hundred  thousand  men.  Of  these  New  York  State  leads 
with  thirteen  thousand  ;  Pennsylvania  comes  next  with  eighty- 
five  hundred  ;  Ohio  and  Massachusetts  follow  after  with  fifty- 
six  hundred  and  fifty-one  hundred  respectively,  while  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  California  are  next  in  rank  with  re- 
spective forces  of  forty-eight  hundred,  forty-six  hundred  and 
forty-four  hundred.  Nevada's  valiant  four  hundred  and  far-off 
Wyoming's  slender  forty-five  are  the  lowest  figures  in  the  list. 

The  officers  of  high  rank  and  many  of  the  company  com- 
manders, according  to  Major  Brust,  have  been  taken  from  those 
who  served  in  the  war,  while  those  officers  who  did  not  see 
service  there,  he  says,  are  chiefly  young  men  who  are  "  being 
moulded  and  influenced  by  these  veterans;  and  this  influence 
will  last  long  after  the  old  soldiers  are  gone."  The  ranks  of 
the  State  Militia,  Major  Brust  asserts,  are  filled  by  "self-sus- 
taining young  men  who  are  unequaled  in  love  of  country,  sol- 
dierly qualities,  education  and  habits." 

The  volunteer  militia  has,  even  from  earliest  times,  been 
ever  the  chief  dependence  of  the  nation  for  the  maintenance  of 
its  honor  and  the  certainty  of  its  defense.  Some  of  the  exist- 
ing militia  organizations  are  of  great  age.  The  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery  Company  of  Massachusetts  is  the  oldest 
existing  volunteer  association  in  America  and,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  two  or  three  regiments  in  the  Austrian  and  British  serv- 

O 

ice,  the  oldest   military  organization    in    the  world.     It  was  a 


3o8  THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 

development  of  the  earliest  colonial  train-bands  and  dates  its 
incorporation  from  1637.  The  First  Corps  of  Cadets  of  Mas- 
sachusetts was  chartered  in  1741  ;  the  First  Company  of  Gov- 
ernor's Foot  Guards  of  Connecticut  dates  from  1 771 ;  the  second 
company  was  organized  just  before  the  battle  of  Lexington. 
The  First  Troop  of  Philadelphia  City  Cavalry,  the  possessor 
of  the  original  "  stars  and  stripes,"  the  First  Light  Infantry 
Association  of  Providence,  the  Albany  Burgess  Corps  and  the 
State  Fencibles  of  Philadelphia  all  date  back  to  the  early  years  ot 
the  nineteenth  century  and  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment  of 
New  York  was  organized  in  1824.  How  important  a  factor  in 
the  military  history  of  this  land  these  militia  regiments  have 
been  is  instanced  by  the  fact  that  in  the  ranks  of  the  Seventh 
Regiment  of  New  York  over  six  hundred  men  who  fought  as 
officers  of  the  army  and  navy  in  the  Civil  War  were  trained  to 
service  including  three  major-generals,  nineteen  brigadier-gen- 
erals, twenty-nine  colonels  and  forty-six  lieutenant  colonels. 
Tfie  first  Lio^ht  Infantry  of  Rhode  Island  furnished  five  c^en- 

O  J  O 

erals,  nine  colonels  and  nearly  two  hundred  lesser  officers,  while 
nearly  every  member  of  Ellsworth's  famous  Chicago  Zouaves 

>  J  O 

received  a  commission  during  the  war. 

^j 

There  was  a  time  when  service  in  the  militia  was  esteemed 
of  small  account  and  the  material  as  well  as  the  morale  of  the 
volunteers  was  quite  below  the  standard.  Of  recent  years  there 
has  been  a  decided  improvement  stimulated  by  the  awakening 
interest  in  the  necessity  and  the  wisdom  of  an  armed  force  as 
the  best  surety  of  national  defense.  The  adjutant-general  of 
the  United  States  Army  in  his  latest  report  spoke  in  high 
terms  of  the  promising  condition  of  the  National  Guard  and 
said  that  "  the  steadily  increasing  interest  manifested  by  the 
militia  of  the  States  is  evidenced  by  the  high  percentage  of 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  3o9 

attendance  at  the  annual  encampments  and  the  general  excel- 
lent military  spirit  of  the  troops." 

In  war  as  in  peace  the  American  people  are  equal  to  every 
emergency.  Should  war  visit  the  land  again  —  as  come  it  may 
-the  "superb  personality"  of  those  who  will  rally  to  the 
defense  of  their  home-land  will  be  as  ready  as  ever  to  assert 
itself  in  willing  obedience  to  the  demands  and  duties  of  the 
hour. 

As  a  people  we  do  not  love  war.  The  best  generals  have 
been  those  whose  sympathies  and  inclinations  were  against 
bloodshed.  Grant  and  Sheridan,  typical  soldiers  both,  had  an 
utter  abhorrence  of  war  and  the  gallant  cavalry  leader  has  been 
heard  to  declare  that  "  the  time  is  coming  when  the  killing  of 
a  thousand  men  in  battle  will  be  looked  upon  as  a  thousand 
murders." 

But,  when  occasion  demanded,  these  leaders  were  quick  in 
action,  furious  in  battle,  relentless  in  methods.  War  is  no 
parlor  play ;  it  is  terrible,  repulsive,  brutalizing.  But  horrible 
as  it  is,  it  has  been  a  factor  in  the  world's  enlightenment ;  bar- 
barous as  it  appears  it  has  been  an  instrument  for  the  world's 
refinement.  Duty  sometimes  compels  to  desperate  deeds  and 
when  such  occasion  arises  the  fiercest  fighter  is  the  strongest 
inducement  toward  peace. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  ranks  of  the  Confederate  army  there 
was  one  soldier,  at  least,  who  sought  to  wage  a  bloodless  war. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Forty-First  Georgia  regiment.  He 
was  in  every  battle  fought  by. his  regiment,  in  every  skirmish 
in  which  his  company  was  engaged,  in  every  charge  made  by 
his  command,  but  he  never  fired  his  gun.  He  had  conscien- 
tious scruples  against  bloodshed,  though  none  against  armed 
aggression.  He  simply  did  not  believe  in  killing  men.  He 


3io  THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER. 

frequently  charged  the  enemy  with  a  yell,  and  saw  his  comrades 
fall  by  his  side,  but  whether  routing  the  Union  soldiers  or  being 
routed  by  them  he  would  not  shoot.  He  was  always  ready  for 
duty — stood  guard,  remained  at  the  picket  post,  and  obeyed 
implicitly  every  command  of  his  superior  officers  except  to 
draw  cartridges,  load  his  gun  and  shoot. 

Had  the  armies  been  composed  throughout  of  such  material 
of  course  no  result  could  have  been  reached.  To  fight  to 
conquer  is  to  fight  to  kill. 

And  so,  whatever  the  future  may  have  in  store,  the  Ameri- 
can volunteer  will  not  be  found  wanting.  Never  again,  upon 
the  battle-fields  of  their  own  land,  will  Americans  be  pitted 
against  Americans  ;  but  the  question  now  is,  as  a  recent  writer 
puts  it,  "  whether  American  volunteers  of  the  future  shall  enter 
upon  the  campaign  against  a  foreign  foe,  when  war  is  forced 
upon  them,  as  an  army  of  well-trained  citizen  soldiery,  or, 
speaking  from  a  military  point  of  view,  as  a  heterogeneous 
mob.  Conditions  have  changed'since  military  men  now  living 
acquired  their  experience,  and  they  will  continue  to  change. 
Unless  our  methods  of  preparation  are  in  keeping  with  the 
times,  we  must  one  day  pay  dearly  for  the  oversight." 

It  is  due  to  the  past  valor  and  the  present  efficiency  of  the 
American  volunteer  that  this  oversight  shall  never  be  permitted. 
What  is  worth  having  is  worth  defending  and  the  price  of 
liberty,  as  we  know  from  national  experience,  is  eternal  vigilance. 

"  The  past  at  least  is  secure  !  "  Whatever  the  future  of  the 
American  Soldier  shall  be  its  successes,  its  changes  or  its 
failures  cannot  rob  him  of  the  luster  of  his  ancient  glory  or 
becloud  the  record  of  his  old  renown.  The  progress  of  inven- 
tion in  the  science  and  art  of  war  may  render  unnecessary  the 
"serried  lines"  that  have  for  many  a  century  made  up  the 


THE    VETERAN  SOLDIER.  3II 

poetry  and  panoply  of  battle;  smokeless  powder  and  noise- 
less guns  may  add  to  the  terrors  of  the  fight  the  horror  of 
a  death-dealing  silence  ;  military  maneuvers  may  become  but 
the  accompaniments  to  the  horrid  hiss  of  steam  and  the 
silent  mystery  of  electricity ;  enthusiasm  may  be  but  the  work- 
ing-out of  a  scientific  formula  and  valor  but  a  thing  of  cogs 
and  cranks ;  but  spite  of  all  mechanical  advances  and  of  every 
progressing  change  the  American  Soldier  will  be  the  soldier 
still.  Still  will  he  be  patient,  courageous,  impetuous;  as  stout 
of  heart,  as  stern  of  will,  as  full  of  pluck  and  heroism  as  when 
in  the  days  gone  by  he  stood  for  liberty  at  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill,  at  Monmouth  and  Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  for 
stubborn  spirit  and  unconquerable  arm  at  Lundy's  Lane  and 
New  Orleans,  for  dash  and  daring  at  Monterey  and  Buena 
Vista  and  Chapultepec,  for  patriotism,  valor,  undying  loyalty 
and  deathless  fame  at  Shiloh  and  Gettysburg,  at  Antietam  and 
Chickamauga,  at  Malvern  Hill  and  Petersburg  and  Atlanta, 
for  desperate  bravery  unconquerable  even  in  savage  death  at 
the  Withlacoochee  and  the  Little  Big  Horn,  and,  above  all,  for 
generosity,  for  manliness  and  the  charity  that  never  faileth  — 
the  nineteenth  century  chivalry  that  held  out  to  a  conquered 
foe  the  hands  of  brotherly  love  and  forgiveness  across  the 
furled  flags  and  the  silent  drums  of  historic  Appomattox. 


THE   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE   AMERICAN    SOLDIER. 

WITH   CERTAIN    HAI'l'ENINC.S   THAT    HAVE  AFFECTED   HIS   STORY   PRESENTED    IN 
CHRONOLOGICAL   ORDER. 

Not  all  the  fighting  nor  all  the  military  operations  that  have  had  place  on  American  soil 
may  be  properly  credited  to  the  American  soldier.  Explorer,  conqueror  and  adventurer  from 
over-sea  were  not  native  to  the  soil ;  the  real  American  soldier  was  the  fighter  evolved  from 
those  foreign  wars  that  were  transplanted  to  American  soil  or  from  the  early  struggles  with 
those  earlier  soldiers  of  the  sod  —  the  red  Americans.  In  this  chronological  story,  therefore, 
the  American  Soldier  will  be  esteemed  as  actually  dating  from  the  days  of  revolution,  although 
a  few  antecedent  dates  are  given  as  indicative  of  the  several  stages  of  progress  which  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  real  American. 

1622.  Indian  massacre  in  Virginia  —  March  22. 

1635.  Clayborne's  rebellion  in  Virginia  and  Maryland. 

1637.  War  with  the  Pequods. 

1644.  Second  Indian  massacre  in  Virginia —  April  18. 

1645.  Ingle  and  Clayborne's  rebellion  in  Maryland. 

1655.  Civil  War  in  Maryland  between  Puritan  and  Catholic.  \ew  Sweden  (now  Dela- 
ware) conquered  by  Stuyvesant  —  December. 

1664.      New  Netherlands  surrendered  to  a  British  fleet  —  September  24. 

1675.  Outbreak  of  King  Philip's  War  in  New  England.      Indian  War  in  Virginia. 

1676.  Death  of  Philip  and  end  of  War.     Bacon's  rebellion  in  Virginia. 
1686.      Bostonians  rose  in  revolt  and  imprisoned  Governor  Andros. 

1688.  Popular  revolt  against  Governor  Sothel  in  North  Carolina. 

1689.  Popular  uprising  against  Andros  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York. 

1690.  First  French  and  Indian  War. 
1702.  Queen  Anne's  War. 

1710.  Capture  of  Port  Royal  by  colonists. 

1732.  Hirth  of  George  Washington  —  February  22. 

1740.  Oglethorpe  invested  St.  Augustine. 

1742.  Oglethorpe  repulsed  Spanish  attack  on  Georgia  colony. 

1744.  King  George's  War  began. 

1745.  I.ouisburg  captured  by  the  colonists  —  June  17. 
1748.  King  George's  War  ended. 

1754.  Battle  of  Great  Meadows.     Capture  of  Fort  Necessity. 

1755.  French  driven  from  Acadia.     General  Braddock  defeated  by  French  and  Indians  — 
July  9.  Dieskau  defeated  at  Lake  George  —  September  8. 

1756.  French  and  Indian  War.     Montcalm  captures  Fort  Oswego — August  14. 

1757.  Surrender  of  Fort  William  Henry. 

1758.  Defeat  of  Abercrombie  — July  8.     Capture  of  Louisburg  —  July  27.     Colonists  cap- 
ture Fort  Frontenac  —  August  27.     Capture  of  Fort  Duquesne —  November  25. 

3'3 


3i4  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   7^HE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 

1759.  General  Wolfe  captured  Quebec  —  September  13.  Capture  of  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point. 

1763.      Pontiac's  War. 

1765.     Stamp  Act  passed  —  March  8. 

1768.     A  garrison  of  British  soldiers  under  General  Gage  entered  Boston  —  September  26. 

1770.  Fight  between  citizens  and  soldiers  at  "Golden  Hill,"  New  York  City — January  18. 
The  "Boston  Massacre" — March  5. 

1771.  Fifteen  hundred  North  Carolina  "Regulators"  dispersed  by  the  governor  with  one 
thousand  militia — May  16. 

I773-     "Boston  Tea  Party" — December  16. 

1774.  General  Gage  made  Commander-in-Chief  of  British  forces  in  America — April  2. 

1775.  The  Battle  of  Lexington.      British  driven  from  Concord  to  Boston  by  the  enraged 
farmers — April  19.     Ticonderoga  surprised  and  captured  by  Ethan  Allen — May  10.      Wash- 
ington appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  —  June  1 5.     The  Americans  made  a  heroic 
stand  at  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  —  June  17.     Montreal  captured  by  General  Montgomery. 
Ethan  Allen  sent  as  prisoner  to  England  —  September  25.     General   Montgomery  killed  in  an 
assault  on  Quebec  —  December  31. 

1776.  The  British  evacuated   Boston — March  17.      Fort  on  Sullivan's  Island,  Charleston, 
repulsed   the    British — Tune    28.       Declaration    of    Independence    adopted  —  July  4.       Fort 
Washington  attacked  and  captured  by  General  Howe —  November  16. 

1777.  The  Americans  victorious  at  the  Battle   of  Princeton — January  3.     Jane  McCrea, 
daughter  of  a  New  Jersey  clergyman,  murdered  near  Fort  Edward  by  the  Indian  allies  of 
Burgoyne —  July  27.     Fort  Schuyler  surrounded  by  British  and  Indians.     General   Herkimer 
failed  in  an  attempt  at  relief.     General  Arnold  succeeded  —  August  3.     General  Putnam  sent 
his  famous  message  to  Governor  Tryon  who  had  demanded  the  release  of  a  prisoner  taken  by 
Putnam  as  a  spy — August  7.     General    Stark  defeated  the  British  at   Bennington,  Vt.,  and 
uttered  his  memorable  words:     "There,  my  boys,  are  your  enemies;  you  must  beat  them  or 
Molly  Stark  sleeps  a    widow  to-night"  —  August    16.     The    Battle    of    Brandy  wine    fought. 
Defeat  of  Americans  opened  Philadelphia  to  the  British  —  September  n.     General  Burgoyne 
defeated  at  the  Battle  of  Stiliwater —  September  19.     The  "  Massacre  of  Paoli  "  resulted  from 
the  surprise  and   defeat  of  General  Wayne  —  September  20.     Sir  William   Howe  occupied 
Philadelphia  for  the  British  —  September  27.      Burgoyne  again  defeated  —  October  7.      Bur- 
goyne surrendered  at  Saratoga — October  17. 

1778.  British  evacuated  Philadelphia — June  18.      Washington  attacked  them  at  Monmouth 
with  slight  success —  June  28.     A  party  of  loyalists  and  Indians,  led  by  John  Butler,  massacred 
most  of  the  inhabitants  in  Wyoming  Valley,  Pa.,  while  the  able-bodied  men  were  away  at  the 
war  —  July  4.     The  British  took  Savannah —  December  29. 

1779.  General  Wayne  captured  Stony  Point  —  July  16.     D'Estaing  and  Lincoln  defeated  at 
Savannah  —  October  9. 

1780.  Fort  Moultrie  surrendered  to  the  British  —  May  6.      Lord  Cornwallis  reached  Peters- 
burg, Va.,  on  his  northern  march  —  May  29.     The  Americans  defeated  at  Camden,  S.  C.,with 
great  loss  —  August    16.       Major  Andre    captured   by  American  guerrillas — September  23. 
Major  Andre  hanged  as  a  spy  —  October  2. 

1781.  General  Greene  defeated  the  British  in  the  Battle  of  the  Cowpens —  [anuary  17. 
Cornwallis  surrendered  at  Yorktown  — October  19. 

1783.  An  agreement  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities  between  England  and  America — Janu- 
ary 20.  Treaty  of  Peace  between  Great  Britain  and  United  States  signed  at  Paris  — 
September  3.  The  British  evacuated  New  York — November  25.  General  Washington 
retired  to  private  life  —  December  23. 

1786.  Daniel  Shays  prevented  the  holding  of  the  courts  at  Worcester  and  Springfield, 
Mass.  —  December. 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  A  ME K 1C 'AN  SOLDIER.  3r5 

1787.     Shays  and  two  thousand  men  fled  from  Springfield.     General  Lincoln  pursued  them, 
took  many  prisoners  and  dispersed  the  rest  —  January. 

1789.      Death  of  Ethan  Allen  the  leader  of  the  "Green  Mountain  Boys  "  in  the  Revolution 

—  February  13.     Washington  was  inaugurated  at  New  York  and  accorded  military  honors  — 
April  30. 

1794.     The  Whiskey  Insurrection  in  Western  Pennsylvania  brought  to  an  end  —  October  24. 
1799.     (ieneral  Washington  died  —  December  14. 

1811.  Battle  of  Tippecanoe  fought  by  General  Harrison  —  November  7. 

1812.  Declaration  of   War  between  United  States  and  Great   Britain  —  June   19.     "The 
Federal  Republican  "  riot  broke  out  in  Baltimore.     Many  were  killed  and  wounded  before  the 
military  appeared  on  the  scene  —  July  27.     General  Hull  surrendered  Detroit  to  the  British  — 
military  stores,  three  thousand  men  and  the  whole  of  Michigan  Territory  —  August  16. 

1813.  Americans  landed  at  Sackett's  Harbor  and  captured  British  stores  and  prisoners  at 
York  —  April  25.     Americans  occupied  Detroit  —  September  29.     General  Harrison  defeated 
the  British  and  Indians  in  the  Battle  of  the  Thames.     Tecumseh  killed  —  October  5. 

1814.  Generals  Scott  and  Ripley  defeated  the  British  at  the  battle  of  Chippewa  —  July  4. 
The  British  were  repulsed  with  heavy  loss  at  the  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane  —  July  25.     A  large 
British  force  repulsed  in  an  attack  on  I,ake  Erie  —  August  15.     City  of  Washington  captured 
by  (ieneral  Ross.     National   Library,  Capitol,   President's  House  and  other  public  buildings 
burned  —  August    24.       American  land    forces    defeated    near    Baltimore  —  September    12. 
Treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  United  States  signed  at  Ghent —  December  24. 

1815.  (ieneral  Jackson  victorious  at  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans  —  January  8. 

1819.     Treaty  with   Spain  ceding   Florida  to  the  United   States  signed  at  Washington  — 
February  23. 

1824.  General  I^afayette  received  at  New  York  with  the  greatest  honor  —  August  15. 

1825.  Corner  stone  of  Bunker   Hill    monument  was  laid,  Lafayette  assisting  at  the  cere- 
mony—  June  17.     l^afayette  set  sail  for  France  after  his  triumphal  tour  through  the  United 
States  —  Sept  8. 

1832.     President  Jackson  sent  troops  to  Charleston  to  protect  the  revenue  officers.     The 
Black-  Hawk  War  brought  to  a  close —  August  2. 

1834.  Militia  called  out  to  suppress  riot  at  the  New  York  City  election  —  April  8.     A 
meeting  of  the   American  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  New  York  was  broken   up  by  a  mob  — 
July  4. 

1835.  Texas  proclaimed  its  independence  —  December  22.     Major  Dadeand  over  one  hun- 
dred men  ambushed  and  massacred  by  the  Seminoles  —  December  28. 

1836.  The  office  of  an  abolitionist  paper  at  Cincinnati  was  attacked  and  pillaged.     Mili- 
tary called  out  —  July  29, 

1837.  The   Seminoles   defeated   by  General  Taylor  at  the  battle  of  Lake  Okechobee  — 
December  25. 

1842.  The  Dorr  Rebellion  began  in  Rhode  Island—  May  3.     General  Fremont's  exploring 
expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  returned  to  St.  Louis  —  October  17. 

1843.  John  C.  Fremont  set  out  on  a  second  exploring  expedition  to  Oregon  and  California 

—  May  29. 

1846.  Mexicans  defeated  by  Taylor  at  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la   Palma  —  May  8  and  9. 
Monterey  surrendered  to  General  Taylor  —  September  24. 

1847.  General  Taylor  with  five  thousand  men  defeated  twenty  thousand  Mexicans  at  Buena 
Vista—  February  22.     Vera  Cruz  surrendered  to  General  Scott—  March  29.     Scott  defeated 
the  Mexicans  in  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo  — April  18.     Heights  of  Chapultepec  stormed  and 
captured  by  the  American  army  under  General  Scott  —  September  12.     City  of  Mexico  taken 

—  September  13.     The  fort  at   Walla  Walla,  Oregon,  captured  by  the  Indians.     Indians  pur- 
sued and  defeated  in  three  battles —  November  29. 


316  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 

1848.  Colonel  Washington  marched  from   Monterey  to  Santa  Fe,  Major  Graham  to  Cali- 
fornia.    Object    to  defend  the  frontier.     Treaty  of  peace  signed  with   Mexico  at  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo,  ceding  New  Mexico  and  California —  February  2. 

1849.  "  Astor  Place  Riot  "  dispersed  by  the  Militia —  May  10.      Proclamation  of  the  Presi- 
dent against  Lopez's  expedition.     Expedition  fails.     Major  Stein  defeated  a  party  of  Apaches 
near  Placer  Mines.     A  Detachment  left  Santa  Fe  for  Texas  to  protect  the  settlers  against  the 
Comanches  and  filibusters  —  August  1 1. 

1850.  Lopez  with  six  hundred  men  took  Cardenas  but  was  compelled  to  evacuate  in  a  few 
hours.     Returned  to  New  Orleans — May  19.      Lopez  with  three  hundred  and  twenty-three  men 
defeated  a  force  of  thirteen  hundred  near  Las  Pozas  —  August. 

1851.  Proclamation    of    the    President    against    second  expedition.     This  expedition  also 
failed.     William   Walker  proclaimed  the   Republic  of  Sonora.     Carvajal,  a  Mexican  bandit, 
captured   by    Lieutenant    Gibbon.       Four   hundred    and    eighty    men    under  General    Lopez 
invaded  Cuba —  August  n.     Lopez  captured  and  executed  for  high  treason. 

1852.  Captain  R.  B.  Marcy,  Fifth   Infantry,  together  with  Brevet-Captain  G.  B.  McClellan 
(afterwards  General)  made  an  exploring  trip  along  the  Red  River. 

1855.  Indian  War — April  25-29.     General    Harney  gains  an    important  victory  over  the 
Sioux  at   Bluewater,  Nebraska — September  3.     Election   riots  and  insurrection   in  Kansas. 
Congress  organized  four  new  regiments  to  protect  the  frontier.     William  Walker,  the  filibuster, 
took  Granada. 

1856.  Kansas    troubles  continued.     William    Walker  defeated  —  March.     Walker  again 
victorious.     Elected   President  and    recognized  by  U.  S.  Government  —  April.      Massacre  at 
Pottawatomie,  Kan.,  where  John  Brown  was  encamped — May  25.     Captain    Pate  and  thirty 
men  captured  at   Black   Jack,  Kan. —  June  2.      Free  State   legislature   forcibly  dispersed  at 
Topeka  by  U.  S.  troops  under   Colonel  Sumner — July  4.     Free  State  men  captured  Colonel 
Titus  and   twenty  men   near  Lecompton  —  August  14.     John  Brown  at  Osawatomie  made  a 
brave  defense  against  D.  R.  Atchison  but  was  defeated  —  August  29.     A  party  frum  Missouri 
forced  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  to  go  to  St.  Louis —  September  i.    Two  thousand  Missourians 
retire  from  before  the    military    near  Lawrence.         Major    Heintzelman    defeated  Cortina's 
forces  near  Rio  Grande  city —  December  14. 

1857.  A  riot  of  the  employes  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad  quelled  by  the  military 
after  a  desperate  fight —  May  i      Troops  march  to  support  the  new  governor  of  Utah  —  May 
to  June.    The  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre.      Kansas  insurrection  quelled.     William  Walker 
met  with  reverses  and  was   captured — September.     William   Walker  landed   at    Nicaragua 
again  —  November.     William  Walker  retaken  —  December. 

1858.  Tranquillity  restored   in    Utah.     Captain    Marcy  and  sixty-five  men  made  a  heroic 
march  of  fifty-one  days  in   the  dead  of  winter  from   Fort    Bridger  to    Fort    Massachusetts. 
William  Walker  taken  again  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  —  October. 

1859.  John    Brown    captured    Harper's    Ferry  —  October    16.       John    Brown    executed  — 
December  2.     General    Harney  sent  troops  to   San  Juan  island  near  Vancouver's  to  protect 
American  settlers  against  the  British  who  claimed  it  as  a  part  of  their  territory. 

1860.  General    Walker's    Filibustering   Expedition  to  Sonora,  Nicaragua  and    Honduras. 
William  Walker  captured  Honduras  —  June.      William    Walker  shot  at  Truxillo — Septem- 
ber 3.     Military  display  in  New  York  in  honor  of  the  Prince  of  Wales —  October  n.     South 
Carolina  seceded  from  the  Union.     The  first  State  to  go  out  —  December  20.      Major  Ander- 
son occupied  Fort  Sumter  —  December  26. 

1861  Fort  Moultrie  fired  the  first  shot  of  the  war  at  the  steamer  Star  of  the  West  — 
January  9.  The  Confederate  States  of  America  organized  —  Februarys.  President  Lincoln 
called  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  for  three  months  —  April.  Bombardment  of  Fort 
Sumter  began  —  April  12.  Major  Anderson  surrendered  the  Fort  —  April  13.  Norfolk,  Va.. 
occupied  by  the  Confederates  —  April  21.  President  Lincoln  called  for  eighty-three  thousand 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE   AMERICAN  SOLDIER.  317 

men  to  serve  for  "  three  years  or  the  war  "  —  May  3.  The  first  steel  guns  made  in  this  coun- 
try, at  Trenton,  were  declared  ready  for  use  — July  i.  The  Unionists  were  defeated  at  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run  fought  at  Manassas  —  July  21. 

1862.  General  Thomas  defeated  General  Zollicoffer  at  Mill  Spring,  Ky.  —January  19.    Fort 
Henry  evacuated  by  the  Confederates — February  6.  The  occupation  of  Fort  Donelson  by  General 
Grant  gave  the  Federal  armies  control  of  Kentucky  and  a  large  part  of  Tennessee  —  February 
16.     General  Sigel  defeated  the  Rebels  at  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas — March  6  and  7.     Grant 
nearly  defeated  by  A.   S.  Johnston  at  the  Battle  of   Shiloh,   death  of  Johnston  —  April  5. 
Grant,  reinforced,  drove  Beauregard  back  —  April  6.     Island  No.  10  surrendered  to  Pope  after 
twenty-three  days'  bombardment  —  April  7.    General  Butler's  army  landed  in  New  Orleans  — 
April  25.     Yorktown  evacuated  by  the  Confederates— May  3.     General  McClellan  defeated 
General  Johnston  at  Fair  Oaks,  V'a.  —  May  31.     Memphis  occupied  by  the  Federals  —  June  6. 
"Seven  days  fight  "  began  between  Lee  and  McClellan  at  Oak  Grove  —  June  25.     Lee  victo- 
rious at  Games'  Mill  — June  27.     Drove  the  Union  forces  till  July  i.     McClellan  repulsed 
Lee  at  Malvern  Hill — July  i.     General  Karly  led  a  raid  up  the  Shenandoah  and  defeated 
General  Wallace  on  the  Monocacy  in  Maryland.     Went  very  near  to  Washington  —  July  9. 
Second  Battle  of  Bull  Run.    Pope  defeated  by  Jackson  and  Lee  —  August  28  and  29.    Harper's 
Ferry  surrendered  to  Stonewall  Jackson  —  September  1 5.     Confederates  under  Lee  repulsed 
at  Antietam  by  McClellan —  Septeml>er  17     Confederates  retreated  into  Virginia  —  September 
19.     Lee  repulsed  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg  —  December  13.     Rosecrans  worsted  by  Bragg 
at  Murfreesboro'  —  December  31. 

1863.  President  Lincoln  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  in  the  seceded  States — Jan- 
uary i.      Rosecrans  forced  Bragg  to  retreat  at  Murfreesboro'  —  January  2.     A  Conscription 
Act  passed  by  Congress  for  drafting  able-bodied  men  into  the  army —  February  26.     General 
Hooker  defeated  by  I,ee  at  Chancellorsville  and  the  Wilderness — May  2,  3  and  4.     Grant 
began  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  —  May  18.     The  Battle  of  Gettysburg  l>egan  —  July  I.     Siege  of 
Vicksburg  ended.      Pemberton  surrendered.      Lee  retreated  hastily  from  Gettysburg  —  July  4. 
Port  Hudson  was  surrendered  to  General   Banks.     This  opened  the  whole  Mississippi  River 
—  July  8      The  Draft  Riots  in  New  York  lasted  for  several  days  befoie  they  were  put  down 
by  the  military  who  were  away  at  the  time  —  July  13.      Rosecrans  driven  back  at  Chickamauga 
by  General  Bragg.     General  Thomas  held  his  ground  and  saved  Union  Army — September  19 
and  20.     Union  troops  drove  Bragg's  army  from  the  summit  of   Missionary  Ridge  —  Novem 
ber  25.     <ii-iu-i.il   Longstreet    repulsed   by  Genera!    Burnside  at   Knoxville  —  November   29. 
General  I-ongstreet  again  repulsed  at  Knoxville       He  retreated  into  Virginia —  December  i 

1864.  President  Lincoln  ordered  a  draft  of  five  hundred  thousand  men  to  begin  on  March  10 
for  three  years,  or  the  war  —  February  i .    March  1 5  called  for  two  hundred  thousand  volunteers. 
July  18  called  for  five  hundred  thousand  volunteers  and  on   December  20  for  three  hundred 
thousand.     General  Grant  made  Lieutenant-General  of  all  the  forces  in  the  United  States  — 
April  2.     The  Fort  Pillow  Massacre  was  ordered  by  General  Forrest  —  April   12.     The  great 
Battle  of  the  Wilderness  was  fought —  May  5  and  6.      Battle  of  Spottsylvania  Court  House  — 
May  9-13.     Battle  at  Resaca,  Ga.,  between  the  armies  of  Sherman  and  Johnston  —  May  15. 
Battle  of   Cold  Harbor.     Grant  repulsed  by  Lee — June  3.     Grant  crossed  the  James  and 
joined  Butler  —  June  15.     Attack  of  Grant  upon  Petersburg  failed  —  June  16.     General  Sher 
man  fought  a  sharp  battle  at  Atlanta  —  July  20.      July  22  another  battle  was  fought.     Still 
another,  the  Confederates  continuing  to  sustain  Sherman's  flank  movements — July  27.     A 
mine  was  exploded  under  the  Confederate  works  at  Petersburg.     It  demolished  the  works,  but 
the  Union   assault   that   followed  was  repulsed —July  30.     The  town   completely   flanked. 
Hood  abandoned  it — August.     City  of  Atlanta  occupied  by  General  Sherman.     From  this 
city  began  his  famous  march  to  the  sea  —  September  2.     Sheridan  defeated  Early  at  the  Battle 
of  Winchester. —  September    19.     Sheridan  made  his  famous   ride  —  October  19.     Sherman 
l>egan  his  march  to  the  sea  —  November  14.     Sherman  reached  Savannah  —  December  10. 


3i8  ACIIIErEMEXTS   OF   THE   AMERICAN  SOLDJEK. 

General  Thomas  defeated  (General  Mood  at  Nashville.  This  battle  ended  the  war  in  that 
region  —  December  15.  Sherman  occupied  Savannah  —  December  21.  General  Butler  re- 
pulsed from  Fort  Fisher —  December  25. 

1865.  General  Terry  took  Fort  Fisher,  the  last  open  port  of  the  Rebels  —  January  15.     Un- 
successful meeting  of  President  Lincoln  and  Seward  with   Vice-President    Stephens  of   the 
Confederacy  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a  peace —  February  2.     Columbia,  S.  C.,  occupied 
by  Sherman's  forces,  was  destroyed  that  night  by  fire.     Charleston  evacuated  by  Hardee  also 
destroyed  by  fire —  February  17.     Charleston  occupied  by  Federals —  February  18.     The  Con- 
federates took  Fort  Stedman.      It  was  quickly  retaken  by  the  Federals  —  March  25.     Grant 
began  his  movements  to  drive  Lee  out  of  the  defenses  of  Petersburg  —  March  29.     The  siege 
of  Petersburg  ended  —  April   i.     Confederate  government  fled  from  Richmond.     Lee's  army 
followed  during  the  night  —  April  2.     General   Lee  surrendered  to  Grant  —  April  9.      Presi- 
dent Lincoln  assassinated  —  April    14.     General  Johnston   surrendered    to  Sherman  —  April 
26.     Jefferson   Davis  captured  while  fleeing  the  country.      Imprisoned  at  Fortress  Monroe  — 
May  1 1.     General  Stuart,  the  cavalry  leader,  killed  in  a  fight  with  Sheridan  at  Yellow  Tavern, 
Ya.  —  May  12. 

1866.  General  Meade  checked  the  Fenian  design  of  invading  Canada —  April  19. 

1870.  Fenian  raid  into  Canada  repelled  by  the  militia.     O'Neill,  the  leader,  captured  by  the 
United  States  Marshal  —  May  26.     General  Robert  E.  Lee  died  —  October  12. 

1871.  The  military  put  down  a  serious  riot  in  New  York  between  the  Orangemen  and  the 
Roman  Catholics.     Sixty-two  rioters  killed  and  many  wounded  —  July  12.     An  attempted  raid 
into  Manitoba  prevented  by  United  States  troops — October. 

1873.  The  Modocs  defeated  the  United  States  troops  —  January  17.  State  of  Civil  War 
prevailed  in  New  Orleans  for  a  time  —  February  The  Modoc.s  treacherously  kill  General 
Canby  and  Mr.  Thomas,  disregarding  a  flag  of  truce  —  April  11. 

1875.  Government  troops  ejected  several   illegally  elected  members  from  the    Louisiana 
Legislature. 

1876.  General  Caster  and  his  soldiers  massacred  in  Montana  by  the  Indians  under  Sitting 
Hull  —  June    25.     Centennial    anniversary  of    American    Independence    at   Philadelphia  with 
many  military  reviews — May  10- November  10. 

1877.  The  "  most  serious  labor  riot  ever  known  in  America  "  began  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad.      Riots  occurred  at    Pittsburg,  Baltimore,  Reading,  Chicago  and  other  places. 
Finally  put  down  by  military  force.      Ten  million  dollars  worth  of  property  destroyed  —  July  14. 
Joseph,  chief  of  the  Nez  Perce  Indians,  captured  with  five  hundred  followers  —  October  i. 

1879.  General  Grant  received  at  San  Francisco  with  a  grand  procession  after  his  two 
years'  tour  round  the  world — September  20.  General  Merrill  relieved  Captain  Payne's 
Company  after  a  five  days' siege  by  the  Utes  at  Milk  River,  Col. — October  6.  Overland 
Arclic  Expedition  led  by  Lieutenant  Schwatka. 

1883.  Armed  citizens  put  down   a  revolt  of   the  prisoners  in  the   Missouri   Penitentiary  — 
February  23.     General  Sherman  retired  from  the  command  in-chief  of  ihe  army  of  the  United 
Stales.     General  Sheridan  succeeded  him  —  November  i.     Centennial  Anniversary  of  close  of 
Revolulion  an  occasion  of  greal  display      Statue  of  Washington  unveiled  —  November  25. 

1884.  Troops  called  out  to  quell  the  riots  in  Cincinnati  due  to  incompetent  administration 
of  justice  —  March  29. 

1885.  The  dedication  of  the  Washington  Monument.     The  soldiers  took  a  prominent  part 
—  February:>i.     General  Grant  died — July  23.    Twenty-five  thousand  soldiers  took  part  in 
the  interment  of  General  Grant  at   Riverside  Park,  New  York  City.      Also  members  of  the 
G.  A.  R.  —  August  7.     General  McClellan  died  —  October  29. 

1886.  The    Apache,   Geronimo,  surrendered   to    Lieutenant  Marrs  —  March    21.     Troops 
sent  to  Kansas  City  to  protect  the  mails  against  the  strikers  on  the  western  railroads —  March 
22.     Geronimo  escaped  to  the  mountains —  March  31.     Sheriff  dispersed  a  labor  riot  at  Fort 


ACHIEVEMENTS  Of*    THE   AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 


3'9 


Worth,    Texas  —  April   3.      The    McCormick    Reaper    Works,  Chicago,    defended   against 
rioters   by  policemen —  May   i.     Militia  put  down  a  labor  riot  at  Milwaukee  —  May  5. 

1887.  Geronimo  surrendered  to  General  Miles  —  September  6.    Grand  military  procession  in 
Philadelphia  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  —  September  16. 

1888.  General  Phil.  Sheridan  died — August  5. 

1889.  Centennial  of  the  Inauguration  of  Washington  celebrated  at  New  York.     Monster 
parade  of  the  military  —  April  30. 


As  an  addendum  to  this  chronological  account  of  the  achievements  of  the 
American  Soldier  the  following  tabulated  facts  as  regards  his  superiors,  his 
battles  and  his  strength,  are  offered.  It  is  but  proper  to  explain  that  these 
lists  form  part  of  a  new  and  very  valuable  work  on  the  curious  facts  in  United 
States  history,  compiled,  after  great  research,  by  Mr.  Malcolm  Townsend,  and 
soon  to  be  published  under  the  comprehensive  title  "  U.  S." 


THE    AIOIY. 

COMMANUEIMN-ClllEr,  THE  PRESIDENT.      [(  Olistil  lltioil,   AllT.  II.,  §  1.] 

On*  <;enend.)|ip  ^^.^^  \  Expired  August  5,  18H8. 

Three  Major-(jcnerals, 

(Six  Brigadier-Ciencrals. 

DEPARTMENT*,  —  Adjutant-General,  Inspcctor.ficncral,  Quartermaster-General,  Ord- 
nance, Medical  and  Pay,  Corp*  of  Engineers,   Battalion  or  Engineer  Soldiers,  Sigual 
Office,  Bureau  of  Military  Justice,  Thirty  Pout  ami  Four  Regular  Chaplains. 
Five  Regiment!  of  Artillery, 
Ten  Kcginicnts  of  Cavalry. 
Twenty  five  Regiments  of  Inliiiitry. 


Kt'.iM     N!    OP  ARTILLERY. 

Twrlvc  Batteries, 

One  Colonel, 

One  Lieut-Colonel, 

One  Major  (for  every  four  batteries), 

One  Adjutant. 

One  Quartermaster  and  Commissary, 

One  Sr|-i»'Mlit-Majiir. 

One  Oaartermaftter-oergeant, 

One  <  lnt  I   Musician. 


BATTKICY    OF    ARTII.I.KRY. 

One  Captain, 

Two  First  I. lent*.,  One  Second  Lieut., 
One  First  Sergeant,  OneQiiartcrinaster- 

Sergeant, 

Four  Sergeant*,  Four  Corporals, 
Two  Musician*,  Two  Artificers, 

One  Wagoner, 

A*  many  privates,  not  exceeding  1222,  as 
the  {'resident  may  direct  [may  add  one 
Second  Lieut.,  two  Serge-ants  and  four 
.Corporate]. 


ItKlilNENT  OP  CAVALRY. 

Twelve  troops, 

One  Colonel, 

One  Lieut. -Colonel, 

Three  Majors, 

One  Surgeon, 

One  Ass't  Surgeon,  One  Adjutant, 

One  Quartermaster,  One  Veterinary  Sur- 
geon. 

OneSergcaiit-Major.Onc  (Quartermaster- 
Sergeant, 

One  Sadler  Sergeant,  One  Chief  Musi- 
cian, 

One  Trumpeter. 


TROOP  or  CAVALRY. 

One  Captain, 

One  First  Lieut.,  One  Second  Ijeut., 
One  First  Sergeant,  One  Quartermaster- 

Sergeant, 
Five   Sergeant,-,  Four   Corporal*,  Two 

Trumpeters, 

Two  Farmers,  One  Saddler,  One  Wag- 
oner. 
A*  many  private*  not  exceeding  78,  as 

the  President  may  direct. 
[Enlisted  men  of  two  troops  are  colored.] 


REGIMENT  OP   INFANTRY. 

Consist*  of  Ten  Companies, 

One  Colonel, 

One  Lieut. -Colonel, 

One  Major, 

One  Adjutant, 

One  Quartermaster.  One  Serg't-Major, 
One  Quartermaster-Sergeant. 
One  Chief  and  Two  Principal  Musician*, 
A  Chaplain,  Thirtv  Post  Chaplains. 


COMPANY   OP   INFANTRY. 

One  Captain, 

One  First  Lieut.,  One  Second  Lieut., 

One  First  Sergeant,  One  Quartermaster- 
Sergeant, 

Four  Sergeants,  Four  Corporals,  Two 
Artificers, 

Two  Musicians,  One  Wagoner, 

Fifty  Privates. 

The'  President  may  increase  to  100  in 
emergency. 

[Enlisted  men  of  two  regiments  are 
colored.] 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 


Army  Corps,  two  or  more  Divisions  under  one  command. 

A  Division,  two  or  more  Brigades. 

A  Jirigade,  two  or  more  regiments  of  Infantry  or  Cavalry. 

A  Kegimtnt,  two  or  more  Battalions. 

A  Battalion,  an  aggregation  of  from  two  to  eight  companies. 

A  Company,  consists  on  a  war  footing,  of  100  men. 

A  Platoon,  two  equal  parts  of  a  company. 


PUESCBIBED   DUTIES. 

General,  none  (being  next,  to  the  President). 

Lieut. -General,  such  as  issued  by  the  President,  by  general,  regular  or  special  orders 

Major-General,  commands  a  Division,  oftentimes  an  army  corps. 

Jirigadier-General,  commands  a  Brigade,  sometimes  ;i  Division. 

Colonel,  command"  a  Regiment  ot  eight  or  more  companies. 

Lieut. -Colonel,  principally  executive,  under  direction  of  the  Colonel. 

Major,  assists  the  Colonel,  sometimes  commands  a  separate  battalion  or  regiment. 

Captain,  commands  a  Company  varying  from  50  to  100  privates. 

Lieutenant,  under  direction  of  the  Captain. 


PRESIDENT 

*  <  7. 
*t-~ 

e  -r.  t- 

•«:  ~ 

TEUM 

SECRETARY  OP  WAR 

NAME                                      STATE             !  APPOINTED 

Washington.. 
Washington.  . 
Washington.  . 
Washington  .  . 
Adams  
Adams  

1 
2 
2 
2 
3 
3 
;j 

1      Henry  Kno.x  
2      Henry  Knox  
2      Timothy  Pickering  
2      James  Mcllenry  
James  Mel  Icnrv  
John  Mar-hall  
.     Samuel  Dexter... 

Massachusetts.. 
Massachusetts.. 
Massachusetts.. 
Maryland  
Maryland  
Virginia  
Massachusetts.. 
Connecticut.... 
Massachusetts.. 
Massachusetts.. 
Massachusetts.. 
New  York  
New  York  

Sept.12,1789 
Meh.  4,  179.3 
Jan.   2,  1795 
Jan.  27,  1796 
Mch.  4,  1797 
May  7,  1800 
May  13,1800 
Feb.  3,  1*01 
Mch.  5,  1801 
Mch.  4,  1805 
Mch.  7,1809 
Jan.  13,  1813 
Mch.  4,1813 
Sept  .27,1814 
Aug.  1,1815 
Mch.  5,1817 
April  7,1817 
Oct.   8,  1817 
Mch.  5,1821 
Mch.  7,  1825 
May  26,1828 
Mch.  9,  1829 
Aug.  1,  1831 
Mch.  4,1833 
Mch.  3,1837 
Mch.  7,  1837 
Mch   ii  1841 

3      Roirer  Griswold  

Jefferson  
Jefferson  
Madison  
Madison  
Madison  

4 

6 
6 

1 

2 
1 
1 

2 
•> 

Henry  Dearborn  
Henry  Dearborn  
William  Eustis  
John  Armstrong  
John  Armstrong  

Madison  

7 
8 
8 
8 
9 
10 

2 
1 
1 
1 

William  H.  Crawford... 
Isaac  Shelby  
George  Graham  (ad.  in.) 

Kentucky  
Virginia  
South  Carolina. 
South  Carolina. 

Monroe..   

Monroe  

Adams  

ID 
11 
11 

12 

i 
i 

•>. 

Peter  B.  Porter  

New  York  

Lewis   Cass  

Ohio  
Ohio  

Jackson  1'.!         '2 
VanBuren..  .  .      13      

Benjamin  F.  Butler.... 
Joel'  H.  Poinsett  
John  Bell  

New  York  .... 
South  Carolina 

Tyler                  :     14     , 

John  Bell  

April  6,  1841 
Sept.13,1841 
Oct.  12,1841 
Mch.  8,  1843 
Feb.  15,  1844 
Mch.  5,1845 
Mch.  6,  1849 
July  20,1800 
Aug.  15,1850 
Mch.  5,  1853 
Mch.  6,  1857 
Jan.  18,  1861 
Mch.  6,  1861 
Jan.  15,  1802 
Mch.  4,1805 
Apr.  15,1865 
Ani'.12,1867 
Feb.21,  1868 
Mav  28,1868 
Mch.  11,  1869 
Sept.  9,  1869 
Oct.  25,  18159 
Mch.  4,1873 
Mch.  8,1876 
Mav  22,1870 
Mch.  12,1877 
Dec.  10,  1879 
Mch.  5,1881 
Sept  .21,1881 
Mch.  ii,  1K83 
Mch.  5,  1889 

T'vler                       J-1 

Ohio 

Tvler  
T'vler  

14 
14 
14 

l.i 

::::: 

John  (.'.  Spencer  
James  M.  Porter  
William  Wilkms  
William  L.  Marcy  
George  W.  Crawford... 
Edmund  Bates     

New  York  
Pennsylvania.  .  . 
Pennsylvania.  .  . 
New  York  
Georgia  
Missouri  
Louisiana.  
Mississippi  .... 
Virginia  
Kentucky  
Pennsylvania.  .  . 
Ohio  
Ohio  
Ohio  
Illinois  

New  York  
Illinois 

Tvler  
Polk 

Tavlor  16      

Fiilmore  16      
Fillmoro  16      

Charles  M.  Conrad.... 
Jefferson   Davis  
John  B.  Flovd  
Joseph  Holt  

Buchanan.  .  .  . 
Buchanan.  .  .  . 
Lincoln  
Lincoln  
Lincoln  
Johnson  
Johnson  
Johnson  
Johnson  

18 
18 
19 

1!) 
20 
20 
20 
20 
20 
21 
21 
21 
22 
22 
22 
23 
•2:? 

i 
i 

2 

1 
1 
1 
2 
2 

Simon  Cameron  
Edwin  M.  Stantoti  
Edwin  M.  Stanton  
Edwin  M.  Stanton  
IT.  S.  Grant,  (ad.  in.).  .. 
Lorenzo  Thomas  (ail.  in.) 
John  M.  Schofield  

William  T.  Sherman.-.. 
William  W    Belknap.  .  . 

Ohio  

William  W.  Belknap.  .  .|Iowa  .. 
Alphoiiso  Taft  Ohio     

James  I).  Cameron  Pennsylvania... 

Haves  

Hayes  

Garficld  24 
Arthur  24 
Cleveland....      2.) 
Harrison  2f> 

Robert  T.  Lincoln  jlllinois  
Robert  T.  Lincoln  Illinois  
William  C.  Endicott  Massachusetts.. 
Redlield    Proctor  Vermont  

15 
16 

IT 

IS 

19 

20 


21 

22 
23 

24 
25 

"26* 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 


33 
34 
35 


37 
38 
39 

40 

'  '•' 
42 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER.        321 
COMMANDERS   OF  THE   ARMY  OP  THE  U.    S. 

[Under  the  President  as  Commander-in-Chief.] 

Major-general  George  Washington. —June  15,  1775,  to  December  23,  1783.  —  Resigned. 

—  Born  at  Pope's  Creek,  Va.,  February  22,  1732.     Died  at  Mount  Vernon,  Va.,  December  14, 
i7W- 

Major-General  Henry  Knox  — December  13,  1783,  to  June  2,  1784.  —  Disbanded.  —  Born 
at  Boston,  Mass.,  July  25,  1750  Died  at  Thomaston,  Me.,  October  25,  1806. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Josiah  Harmer.    (General-in-Chief  by  brevet,  July  3 1 , 1787.) —  Resigned. 

—  June  3,  1784,  to  March  4,  1791.  —  Born  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1753.     Died  at  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  August  20,  1813. 

Major-General  Arthur  St  Clair.  —  March  4,  1791,  to  March  5,  1792.  —  Resigned.  —  Born  at 
Thurso,  Scotland,  1734.  Died  at  Greensburg,  Pa.,  August  31,  1818. 

Major-General  Anthony  Wayne.  —  March  5,  1792,  to  December  15,  1796.  —  Died.  —  Born  at 
Kasitown,  Pa  ,  January  i,  1745  Died  at  Krie,  Pa..  December  15,  1796. 

Major-(ieneral  James  Wilkinson.  —  December  15,  1796,  to  July  2,  1798.  —  Resigned. — 
liorn  at  Benedict,  Md  ,  1757  Died  at  City  of  Mexico,  December  28,  1825. 

Lieutenant-General    George    Washington.  —  July  31,   1708,   to   March  3,   1799. 

General  George  Washington,  March  3,  1799,  to  December  14,  1799.  —  Died. — Born  at 
Pope's  Creek,  Va.,  February  22,  1732.  Died  at  Mount  Vernon,  Va.,  December  14,  1799. 

Major-General  Alexander  Hamilton  —  December  15.  1799,  to  June  15,1800.  —  Born  on 
Isle  of  Nevis,  Eng.,  January  u,  1757.  Died  at  Weehawken,  N.  J.,  July  12,  1804. 

Brigadier-General  James  Wilkinson.  —  June  15.  1800,  to  January  27,  1812.  —  Resigned. — 
Born  at  Benedict,  Md.,  1757.  Died  at  City  of  Mexico,  December  28,  1825. 

Major-General  Henry  Dearborn.  —  January  27,  1812,  to  June  15,  1815.  —  Mustered  out. — 
Born  at  N  Hampton,  N  H.,  February  23,  1751.  Died  at  Roxbury,  Mass.,  June  6,  1829. 

Major-General  Jacob  Brown. —June  15,  1815,  to  February  24,  1828. — Died.  —  Born  at 
Bucks  Co.,  Pa.,  May  9,  1775.  Died  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  February  24,  1828. 

Major-General  Alexander  Macomb.  —  May  28,  1828,  to  June  25,  1841.  —Died.  ->• Born  at 
Detroit,  Mich.,  April  3,  1782.  Died  at  Washington,  June  25,  1841. 

Major-General  Wmfield  Scott.  (Brevet  Lieut. -General.)— July  5,  1841,  to  November  6, 
1861.  — Retired  —Born  near  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  13,  1786.  Died  at  West  Point,  N.  Y., 
May  29,  1866 

Major-Cieneral  George  Brinton  McClellan.  —  November  i,  1861,  to  March  n,  1862.  — Re- 
signed —  Porn  at  Philadelphia,  December  3,  1826.  Died  at  Orange,  N.  J.,  October  29, 
1885. 

[No  Generals  as  Commanders  from  March  n  to  July  23,  1862.] 

Major-General  Henry  Wager  Halleck.  —  July  23,  1862,10  March  12,  1864.  —  Retired.  — 
Born  at  Westernville,  N.  Y.,  January  16,  1815.  Died  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  January  9,  1872. 

Lieutenant-General  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant.  —  March  12,  1864,  to  July  25,  1866. 

General  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant.  —  July  25,  1866,  to  March  4,  1869.  —  Resigned.  —  Born  at 
Point  Pleasant,  O.,  April  27,  1822.  Died  at  Mount  Gregor,  N.  Y.,  July  23,  1885. 

General  William  Tecumseh  Sherman.  —  March  5,  1869,  to  November  i,  1883.  — Born  at 
I  .am  aster,  O.,  February  8,  1820. 

Lieutenant-General  Philip  Henry  Sheridan.  —  November  i.  1883,  to  June  i,  1888. 

General  Philip  Henry  Sheridan.  —  June  i,  1888,  to  August  5,  1888. —Died. —Born  at 
Albany,  N  Y.,  March  6,  1831.  Died  at  Nonquitt,  Mass.,  August  5,  iSSS. 

Major-(k;neral  John  McAllister  Schofield.  —  August  14,  1888,  to—  —  Born  at  Chau- 
tauqiia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  September  29,  1831. 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE  AMERICAN"  SOLDIER. 


TITLES   OP  GENERAL  AND  LIEUT.-GENERAL. 

May  28.  1798,  an  act  was  passed  by  Congress,  one  section  of  which 
empowered  the  President  to  appoint,  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate. 
"  a  commander  of  the  army  which  may  he  raised  by  virtue  of  this  act, 
and  who  being  commissioned  as  Lieutenant-General,  may  be  author- 
ized to  command  the  Armies  of  the  United  States." 

[July  3.  1798,  as  the  result  of  a  message  to  the  Senate  from  Presi- 
dent John  Adams,  the  Senate  unanimously  consented  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  Washington  •'  as  Lieutenant-General."] 

March  3,  1799.  Congress  made  a  change  in  the  title  to  the  effect 
"  that  a  commander  of  the  army  of  the  United  States  shall  be  ap- 
pointed and  commissioned  by  the  style  of  '  General  of  the  armies  of 
the  United  States,'  and  the  present  office  and  title  of  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  shall  thereafter  be  abolished." 

FebriHtry  15.  185,1,  further  legislation  restored  Lieutenant-General ; 
by  resolution  of  Congress  : 

"  That  the  grade  of  Lieutenant-General  ho,  and  the  same  is  hereby  revived  in  the  army 
of  the  United  States  in  order  that  when,  in  tin-  opinion  of  the  President  and  Senate,  it  shall 
be  deemed  proper  to  acknowledge  eminent  services  of  a  Major-General  of  the  army  in  the 
late  war  with  Mexico,  in  the  mode  already  provided  for  in  subordinate  grades,  the  grade  of 
Lieutenant-General  may  be  specially  conferred  by  brevet,*  and  by  brevet  only,  to  take 
rank  from  the  date  of  such  service  or  services.  Provided,  however,  that  when  the  said 
grade  of  Lieutenant-General  by  brevet  shall  have  once  been  filled,  and  have  become 
vacant,  this  joint  resolution  shall  thereafter  expire  and  be  of  no.fti'cct." 

[W  infield  Scott  was  appointed  brevet  Lieutenant-General.] 

Man-h  2,  18(!4,  Lieutenant-General  conferred  on  U.  S.  Grant,  the 
grade  having  been  revived  early  in  the  year  by  Congress. 

July  25,  18()(>,  the  grade  of  General  created  and  conferred  by  Con- 
gress on  U.  S.  Grant. 

In  18(!9  Congress  provided  that  "  the  offices  of  General  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General of  the  Army  shall  continue  until  a  vacancy  shall  occur 
in  the  same,  and  no  longer."  (Sherman  became  General  and  Sheridan 
Lieutenant-General. 

June  1,  1888,  by  act  of  Congress: 

"  The  President  is  hereby  authorized  when  IIP  shall  deem  it  expedient  to  appoint  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  United  States  Senate,  a  General  of  the  Army  of  the 
United  States  to  be  selected  from  among  those  otlicers  in  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States  most  distinguished  for  courage,  skill  and  ability,  who,  being  commissioned  as 
General,  may  be  authorized  under  the  direction  and  during  the  pleasure  of  the  President, 
to  command  the  armies  of  the  United  States." 

Under  this  act  P.  II.  Sheridan  was  made  General,  so  that  he  was  the 
last  Lieutenant-General  and  the  last  General  of  the  Army;  both  titles 
disappearing  with  his  death;  as  for  practical  purposes  the  titles  were 
considered  disproportionate,  with  an  army  of  only  25.000  enlisted 
men. 


*  BREVET.  (Fr.  lireret,  from  Lat.  brerix,  short.)  Implies  in  France  a  royal  act,  con- 
ferring some  privilege  of  distinction;  in  iMigland  it  is  applied  to  a  commission  giving 
nominal  rank  higher'  than  that  for  which  pav  is  received. 

In  the  U.  S.  Army  by  trrtrrt  is  conferred  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  for  "  gallant  actions  or  meritorious  services."  A  brevet  rank  gives  no  right  of 
command  in  the  particular  corps  to  which  the  officer  brevetted  belongs  and  can  be  ex- 
ercised only  by  special  assignment  of  the  President. 

The  first'f  iine  it  was  used  in  the  U.  S.  Army  was  in  1812,  when  Captain  Zachary  Taylor, 
afterwards  President,  was  promoted  to  Jfajor  bybrecet  for  his  defense  of  Fort  Harrison. 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 


323 


WARS   OF   THE  U.   S. 

(As  Colonists  and  us  a  Nation.) 


WARS  OP  THR  U.  ft. 

COMMENCED 

ENDED 

TKOOP8  ENGAGED 

BEuir- 

LAK 

MILITIA  A 
VOLUN. 

TOTAL 

Apr.  19,1775 

Apr.  11,1783 

130,711 

58,750 
105,300 

309,791 
8,983 
4,593 
3,330 
910 
13,781 
605,046 

Northwestern  lndian((jen.St.('iair) 
*  With  France  

Sept.  19,1790 
July  9,  1798 

Aug.  3,  1795 
Sept.30,1800 
June  4,  1805 
Nov.  11,  1811 
Aug.  9,  1814 
Feb.  17,1815 
June  28,1815 
Get.  21,  1818 
Sept.31,1832 
1837 
Scpt.30,1837 
Aug.14,1843 
1839 
July  4,  1848 
!»  . 
1854 
1858 
May  11,1865 
1862 
June      1873 
1876 
Oct.        1877 
1879 

*  With  Tripoli  
Tecuiuseh  Indian  (Gen.  IIarn>onj. 

June  10,1801 
Sept.11,1811 
Aug.13,1813 
June  19,181-2 
May       1815 
Nov.  20,1817 
Apr.  21,1831 
1836 
Mav  ft,  1836 
Dei-.  23.183J 
1838 
Apr.  24,1846 
1849 
1854 
1856 
Apr.  21,1861 
1862 
1872 
June2">,lH76 

600 
33,424 

660 
13,181 
471,622 

**  1812  "  with  (ireat  Britain  

1,000 
1,339 

6,911 
5,126 
9,494 
12,483 
29,953 
1,500 
73,776 
1,061 
503 
2,687 

7,911 
6,465 
9,494 
13,418 
41,122 
1,500 
101,282 
1,061 
503 
2,687 
2,859,132 

Cherokee  DUturbaure  or  lieiuovu 

935 
11,100 

27,506 

The  "Civil"  or  "  Rebellion  "  

M    i   •  i    r 

1877 
187U 

Ute  Indian  

*  Naval  warfare. 


FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WARS. 

Cause  :     Fir»l,  The  conflicting  territorial  claims  of  France  and  England. 
Sfcond,  The  long-standing  national  animosity  of  the  two  nations. 
Thirtl   A  conflict  between  the  frontiersmen  of  the  two  nations  in  attempting 
to  colonize  tho  Ohio  Valley.     (Treaty  made  at  Paris,  Feb.  10,  1763.) 


(OMMANIJEUS 


WIIKUK    FOfOIIT 


ENGLISH 


March 


1754  Present  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


Tues.  May  23,1754  <Jreat  Meadows,  Pa 

Wed .  July  3,  1754  Fort  Necessity,  Pa 

Wed.  July  '.',  1755  Braddock's  Field,  Pa 


Mon.  Sep.  8, 
Man.  Sep.  K, 
Wed.  Aug.ll, 
Wed.  Sep.  H, 
Wed.  July  6, 
ThursJuly  6, 
Sun.  Aug.  27, 
Sat.  Nov.  25, 
TucsJiily  24, 
TliiirsJnly2»»1 
Tues.  July  •"!, 


Thur*.Sep.l3.17V>  Qi» 


1755  Near  Lake  George,  N.  Y.. 
17.V.  Near  Fort  Edward,  N.  Y.. 

1756  Oswego,  N.  Y 

1756  Kittaning,  Pa 

1757  Fort  William  Henry,  N.  Y. 
17X  Tironderoga,  N.  Y 

1758  Fort  F  route  n:i< 


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Washington.. 
Washington.. 

Itruddock 

Williams 

Johnson 

.  Mercer 

.  Armstrong... 

.  Monntc 

.  Abercrombie. 

Bradstr 


FKENCIl 


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Villiers 

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Dumas 

Dieskau 

Dicskau 

Montcalm 

Indians 

Montcalm 

Mi  n  ill -aim 


8UCCE99- 

Ft'L 
I'ARTV 


1758  Fort  Du.  Quesne,  Pa.... 

1759  Fort  Niafjara,  N.  Y 

1759  Ticondcropi 

1759  Montmorenci 


Washinpton.. 

Prideaux 

Amherst 

Murray  and 
Townshend... 
Wolfe 


D'Auhry.... 


Montcalm 

Montcalm... . 


..  French 
. .  English 
..  French 

..  French 

. .  French 

. .  English 

. .  French 

. .  English 

. .  French 

. .  French 

.  English 

.  English 

.  English 

.  English 

.  French 
.  English 


KEY  TO  TABLES.    (War  of  1812  and  after.) 

In  explanation  of  wars,  the  marginal  references  will  be  indicative  of  the  following : 
.  An  Action.  -A  Bombardment.  •  An  EgjedMon.  »  A  Skirmish 

I  An  tEff-  ''  A  SK  »  An'^npatiOU.  » 4  slrrendfr. 

*  A  Battle.   '  •  A  Defense.  »  A  Siege. 


324         ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   AMERICAN  SOLDIEK. 


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ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  SOI.DIEK. 


MEXICAN   WAR. 

War  formally  declared  by  the  U.  S.,May  13, 1846.    (House  voting  174  to  14,  Senate  40  to 2.) 
War  formally  declared  by  Mexico,  May  23,  1846. 

Causes:  First,  Mexico  claimed  Texas  as  part  of  her  territory,  notwithstanding  its  in- 
dependence was  acknowledged  by  the  United  States,  England,  France  and 
other  governments.  The  U.  S.,  by  annexation,  claimed  the  Kio  Grande  as 
the  Texan  boundary,  while  Mexico  alleged  the  western  limit  of  the  Province 
never  extended  west  of  the  Nueces  Iliver.  The  crossing  by  (Jen.  Taylor 
considered  as  the  commencement  of  war,  and  Mexico  made  the  attack. 
Second,  Impoverished  by  civil  war,  Mexico  did  not  hesitate  to  replenish  her 
treasury  by  plundering  American  vessels  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  also  con- 
fiscated property  of  American  merchants  within  its  borders — covered  by 
treaty,  1831,  but  not  lived  up  to. 
Third,  Internal  politics,  on  both  sides. 


ENGAGEMENTS 

COMMANDERS  AND  TROOPS 

DATE                               WHERE  FOUGHT 

AMERICAN 

MEN 

MEXICAN 

MEN 

1846  Sat.     Apr.     25  >3  Ft.  Brown  
Sun.    May    3-9  *  Ft.  Brown  

Thornton  .  — 
*  Brown 

*  Torrejou  .  .  . 



Fri.      May      8  «  J'alo    Alto  
Sat.      May      9  4  Kessaca  de  la  Palma.  . 
Won.    Mav    18  ls  Matamoras  

*  Tavlor  2,:',00  Ari.-ta  
*  Taylor  j    2,000'  Arista  

6,000 

5,000 

Wed     Aug     19'13  Matamora-   ....         ' 

Mon.  Sep.  21-23  4  Monterey  ;*  Taylor  

0,600 

Amptidia  .  .  . 

10,000 

Mon.     Dec.     7  l:i  San  Bernardino  

*  Doniphan.  .  . 

500 

Ponce  de  Leon 

1,200 

Sat        Jan       9  13  Plains  of  JN'e^i 

Sat.      Jan.     23  '•*  Kncarnacion  i  

Thurs     Feb.    4  1:l  Pueblo  de  Taos   

Mon.  Feb  22  23   8  Buena  Vista  

*Taylor  4,700  Santa  Anna.. 

17,000 

Sun.     Feb.     28   *  Chihuahua  

*  Doniphan.  .  .        900  Trias  

4,000 

Wed.     Mar.  24  1:!  Pnente  del  Medic  

Thur.Mar.25-29'12  VeraCrnz  

*  Scott  12,000'  Morales  

6,1)00 

1 

Sat.  Apr.  17-1S;  4  Cerro  Gordo  

*  Scott  

8,500;  Santa  Anna.. 

12,000 

Mon     July    12  7  Culabosa  K 

Fri.    An!?.     13  *  Mera  Flores  

Mon.    Ail".    1613OkaLaka  

*P.  F.  Smith. 
*  Worth  

4,000:  Valencia  
K.O(X)  Santa  Anna.. 

7,000 
25,000 

Fri.     Au£.    20  4  Ghimibusco  

Wed.     Sep.      8  4  Kl  Molino  del  Hey  ...  *  Worth  

3,500  Santa  Anna.. 
7,200  Santa  Anna.. 

14,000 
25,000 

Sep  13  to  Oct  ]•>  8  t  Puebl-i 

Mon.  Sep.  13-14   'i  Citv  of  Mexic  *  Scott  
Sat.       Oct.      9  T  Ilnainantla  *I,anc  
Tues      Oct     121  i  Atlixco 

6,000  Santa  Anna.. 
500;Santa  Anna.. 

1.000 

Tues.     Nov.    2  1S  Agua   Frio  i  

Wed.    Nov.    24  "  Galaxara  Pass... 

Treaty  concluded  at  Gnadalupe,  Hidalgo,  Feb.  2, 1848. 
*  Victorious  party.  t  Besieged  2S  days. 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER.         329 


TROOPS  ENLISTED  DURING  THE   REVOLUTION, 
INCLUDING   CONTINENTALS  AND   MILITIA. 

(Ettimated.) 


1775 

1776 

1777 
J.I--. 
12,591 
6,563 
2,048 
5,332 
2,908 
9,464 
1,299 
7,565 
11,013 
I..-: 
2,000 
2,173 

1778   1779  1780 

1781 
700 
5,298 
3,921 
464 
1,178 
823 
1,346 
89 
2,107 
6,119 
3,545 
3,000 
750 

1782    1783 

V  «•  Hampshire.. 

M:l";l<  Illl-i  tt-  

2,824 
16,444 
4,507 
1,193 
2,075 

4,01S» 
20,372 
13,127 
1,900 
8,094 
9,086 
10,395 
754 
3,329 
6,181 
4,134 
•     •  • 
2,301 

1,783 

13,437 
4,010 
3,056 
2,194 
2,586 
3,684 
349 
3,307 
7,830 
1,287 
3,650 
3,873 

1,226!     1,777 
7,738i     7,889 
3,544      3,687 
1,2631        915 
3,756:     4,847 
1,276      1,267 
3,476      3,337 
317:         556 
2,849      2,065 
8,573i     6,986 
4,920      3,000 
4,500:      6,000 
837.         750 

744 
4,423 
1,732 
481 
1,198 
660 
1,265 
164 
1,280 
2,204 
1,105 
2,000 
750 

733 
4,370 
1,740 
372 
1,169 
676 
1,598 
235 
974 
629 
697 
139 
145 

Rhode  Island  
New  York  

Pennsylvania  

400 

3,1*0 
2,000 
4,01  NJ 
1,000 

North  Carolina... 
South  Carolina.... 
Georgia  

"WAR  OF   1812." 

(  Kc:.'iil.ir  service  an  approximation.) 


11ATK 

OFFICERS 

MEN 

TOTAL1 

July,  1812  

301 
1,476 
2,395 
2,396 

6,385 
17,560 
35,791 
31,028 

6,683 
19,036 
,  [gl 

33,424 

Feb     1813  

Sept.,  1814  
Feb.,    1815  

WHOLE    MILITIA    FORCK 


Officers ",1,210 

Men 440,412 

Total..   .4TT622 


Casualties  (as  reported)  :  Killed,  1,377;  wounded,  3,737;  total,  5,614. 


WAR  WITH  MEXICO  —  1846-48. 

Number  of  Men  and  Casualties  in  the  Regular  and  Volunteer  forces. 


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Alabama  3,028 
\rkan»'is  .           1  323 

536 

']  • 

408 

2,102 
32 

7,016 
425 
2,396 
935 
5,536 
2,503 
1,077 
5,865 
8,018 
1,320 
146 
585 

344 

20 

;;     46 

New  Jersey  
New  York  

24 

19 

156 

Ohio  

18 
21 
30 
43 
42 

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26 
6 
4 

39 
162 
216 
129 
29 
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Illinois                                6  123 

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160 
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Indiana  ;   4,585 
Iowa                                '       253 

Texas  

Kentucky                        '   4  842 

78 

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54 

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3 

4 

105 
8 
21 

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Maryland,  an  I'D.  C..!    l!355 
Massachusetts  1,057 
Michigan  1,103 
Mississippi  2,423 

Re-mustered       volun- 
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PRINCIPAL  ENGAGEMENTS 

LOCATION 

55 

0 

fa 

fa 

a 

« 

;-s 

r 

0 

:  :  5    s  :::=•:: 

:  :^    «:::<-:: 

Poeotaligo,  S.  C  
Charleston,  S.  C  

^ 

Ft.  Anderson,  N.  C  

'—      S  - 

^        *  ^ 

§   p 

1  1^ 

1   I5* 

Kinston,  N.  C  
Averysboro  &  Moor's  C'ros 

,-f!    (§|£P^I><^ 

ildi-^^i^lo 

Cent.  Alabama  &  Georgia. 
Raleigh  &  Ilillsboro,  N.  C 

Tallahassee,  Fla  

Irwinsville,  Fla  
Chalk  Bluff,  Ark  
Palmetto  Handle,  Tex... 
New  Orleans,  La  

DATE 

o 

a 

a 

s 

j_ 

fa 

-'-^ 

:  :    "     :s  :     : 

SS   '•   '• 

•a 

0  = 

CO^ 

7. 
fn 

I? 

US* 

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1 

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^     H 

i! 

i  3  ij  ! 

a-S  : 

2  &  : 

Hi- 

ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 


337 


ARMY  STRENGTH  OF  THE  UNION  FORCES, 


DATE 

\-\-.\.-\.\  i 

ABSENT 

AGGREGATE 

GRAND 

TOTAL 

I!-  (,'"   ir» 

\ 

Regulars 

Volnntr's 

Regulars 

Jan.  1,1861 
Jan.  1,  1802 
Jan.  1,  1863 
Jan.  1,  1864 
Jan.  1,  I860 
Mar  .31  ,1809 
Mav  1. 

28,771 
19,871 
19,1(59 
17,237 
14,661 
;  1,880 

169,480 
507,333 
670,633 
694,013 
606.263 
643,867 

4,018 
2,564 

6,294 
7,399 
7,358 
7,789 

849 
46,159 
213,095 
242.IISS 
331,178 
314,550 

"  32,789  ~ 
22,425 
25,463 
24,636 
22,019 
21,669 

I7<  >...•_".. 
553,492 
892,728 
836,101 
937,411 
958,417 

203,118 
575,917 
918,191 
860,73? 
959,460 
980,086 

*'"  •"'•"" 

AGGREGATE  TROOPS   FURNISHED  UNION  ARMY, 
1861-1865. 


• 

KTATE  on 
TKBBITOKY 

I 

MEN 

1  1  I.M-lllli 
' 

COLORED 

:         < 

FAILED 

Tit 
REPORT 

KXKMPTKD 

n.'KNIMIIKD 
SUB.  OR 
PAID  FINE 

HELD 

PEB  CENT  j 

OK  TKOOP8  * 

AOOREGATE 

(reduced  to 
at/tree  yearn, 
standard)  1 

Arkansas  .. 
California.. 

780 

2,0(0 

8,289 
15,725 

1. 
5,526 

1.5 
4.1 

II.. 

12.4 
4  5 

!  J.-. 
22.4 
.9 
.0 
15.1 
14.6 
11.3 
18.8 
6.8 
.7 
11.5 
7.3 
12.3 
11.9 
14.5 
.0 
9.2 
10.9 
15.7 
10.6 
12.0 
7.0 
12.0 
.3 
13.6 
3.4 
12.5 
13.6 
.0 

1,611 
7,836 
15,725 
3,697 
50,623 
206 
10,322 
11,506 
1,290 
0 
214,133 
153,576 
68,630 
18,706 
70,832 
4,654 
66,776 
41,275 
124,104 
80,111 
19,693 
545 
86,530 
2,175 
1,080 
30,349 
57,908 
4,432 
392,270 
3,156 
240,514 
1,773 
265,517 
17,866 

Colorado  T. 
Connecticut 
Dakota  Tcr. 
Delaware  .  . 
Dint,  of  Col. 
Florida  

4,903 

95  ... 

44,797 

57,37'J 
206 
13,670 
16,872 
1,290 

1,764    12,031 

1,014      r,FMi| 

3,842 

202 

13,935 
13,973 

!'.'»4 
3,209 
1,044 

!     8,635 
,  14,338 

1,443 
5,954 

4,170 
5,665 

2,534 
1,751 

425 
968 

Georgia  

Illinois  
Indiana.  ... 

244,496 
199,788 
79,521 
12,931 
100,782 

'"73,587 

70,905 

l    ..,,. 

95,007 
26,326 

259,147 
197,147 
76,309 
20,151 
79,025 
6,224 
72,114 
60,316 
152,048 
89,372 
25,052 
645 
109,111 
3,157 
1,080 

1,811 
1,637 

440 
2.0SO 
23,703 
3,486 
104 
8,718 
3,966 
1,387 
104 
17,869 
8,344 

32,085 
41,158 
7,548 
1,420 
29,421 

27,324 
29,319 
41,582 
22,122 
10,796 

9.519 
6,235 
702 
419 
9,503 

3,760 
9,207 
5,167 
4,294 
2,058 

'.•,:,:,:, 
15,478 
2,446 
287 
8,088 

'i:2,wi 
11,011 

27,070 
7,130 
4,449 

5,459 
5,966 
1,264 
210 
5,787 

'  4',946 
6,134 
8,383 
3,773 
1,291 

3,538 
7,597 
1,862 
119 
1,860 

'  V,99i 
1,426 
912 
1,809 
862 

K.m«;i-  
Kentucky.  • 
Louisiana.. 
Maine  

Maryland.  . 

HIM  

Michigan  .. 
Minnesota.. 
IfiMiMippi 

Missouri.  .. 
NeltraskaT. 
Nevada  .... 

122,496 

21,519 

9,444      .-1.TM 

1,638 

1,031 

Ni  W  II.IIU|l. 

New  Jersey 
N.Mexi.oT 
New  York.. 
N.  Carolina 
Ohio  

35,897 
92,820 

34,629 
81,010 
6  561 

125 
1,185 

10,80*5 
32,325 

461 
6,205 

5,478 
8,224 

3,654 
9,650 

210 
951 

507,148 
1,560 
306,322 

467,047 
3,156 
319,659 
1,810 
36(5,107 
23,639 

4,125 
6,035 
6,092 

151,488 

31,745 

68,000 

31,529 

3,210 

50,400 

19,751 

10,988 

4,241 

Oregon  

18,898 

8,612 
1,837 
6  462 

178,873 
4,321 

31,309 
249 

70,913 
lj»  t 

40,807 
1,142 

8,615 
117 

R.  Island   . 
8.  Carolina  . 
Tennessee.. 
Texas  

1,560 

31,092 
1,965 
35,262 

20,133 
47 
120 

2.8 
.3 
11.2 
.0 
8.3 
8.1 
12.4 

26,394 
1,632 
29,068 
0 
964 
27,714 
79,260 
3,530 
91,789 

Vermont  .  . 

32,074 

7,743 

429 

4,096 

2,646 

437 

Wash.  Ter. 
W.  Virginia 
Wisconsin  . 
Iiul.  Nation 

(    .   !.     1  i,.,.|   - 

964 
32,068 
96,424 
3  530 

34,463 
109,080 

196 
165 

3,180 
38,395 

1,014 
11,742 

569 
14,732 

219 
6,718 

242 
3,722 

93,441 

Total  

2,763,670 

2,859,1321143,304 

776,829il61,244,315,509i 

160,331 

46,347 

9.1 

2,319,272 

'  Per  cent,  of  troops  furnished  to  population. 


THE    BEST    HUNDRED    BOOKS    ON    THE 
AMERICAN    SOLDIER. 

The  literature  of  war  is  legion.  Military  history,  tactics  and  operations, 
biography  and  reminiscence,  romance,  fiction,  poetry  and  song  —  the  story  of 
the  American  soldier  has  been  treated  in  its  manifold  phases  by  pens  of  every 
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who  desire  to  go  deeper  into  the  details  of  the  story  of  the  American  soldier. 

Bancroft  (George). 

History  of  the  United  States.      Latest  Edition.     Author's  last  revision.     6  vols.     Svo.     Xe\v 

.York,  1883-85. 

"By  far  the  most  elaborate  and  the  most  carefully  prepared  history  of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  periods  yet 
published."  —  CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS. 
Billings  (John  IX). 

Hardtack  and  Coffee.     Svo.      111.     406  pp.     Boston,  1887. 

The  unwritten  story  of  Army  Life  in  the  Civil  War. 
Birkheimer  (Lieutenant). 

Historical  Sketch  of  the  Organization,  Administration,  Materiel  and  Tactics  of  the  Artillery. 

United  States  Army.     606  pp.      Washington,  1884. 

A  most  satisfactory  work. 
Boynton  (Edward  C.). 

History  of  West  Point.     Svo.     111.     416  pp.     New  York,  1871. 

Crackett  (Albert  G.). 
History  of  the  United  States  Cavalry  from  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
June,  1863.      i2mo.     111.     337  pp.     Xew  York,  1865. 
An  important  and  most  excellent  record  of  the  cavalry  arm  of  the  U.  S.  service. 
Brockett  (Linus  P.). 

The  Camp,  the  Battlefield  and  the  Hospital ;  or,  Lights  and  Shadows  of  the  Great  Rebel- 
lion.    Svo.     512  pp.     Philadelphia,  1866. 
Brooks  (Elbridge  S.),  Editor. 

The  Story  of  the  States.     Svo.     111.     Boston,  1888. 

A  series  of  graphic  historical  narrations  by  American  authors,  telling  the  Story  of  the  States  of  the  American 
Union  from  the  earliest  beginnings  to  the  present  day.  The  series  (which  touches  alike  the  civil  and  the  military 
story  of  each  American  Commonwealth)  will  eventually  comprise  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  Story  of  New  ' 

33S 


IU-.ST  I/UXDRKD   HOOKS   OX    Till-    AM  ERIC  AX  SOLDIER.  339 

York(Elbridge  S  Brooks),  The  Story  of  Ohio  (Alexander  Black),  The  Story  of  Louisiana  (Maurice  Thompson), 
The  Story  of  Vermont  (John  L.  Heaton),  The  Story  of  Kentucky  (Emma  M.  Connelly)  and  The  Story  of  Massa- 
chusetts (Edward  Everett  Hale)  are  now  ready 

Browne  (Francis  F.). 

Bugle  Echoes:  a  collection  of  poems  of  the  Civil  War.     8vo.     New  York,  1886. 

( )ne  of  the  best  collections  of  War  poems,  North  and  South 
Brownell  (H.  H.). 

War  Lyrics,     izmo.     192  pp.     New  York,  1866. 

"  They  are  to  all  the  drawing-room  battle  |x>ems  as  the  torn  flags  of  our  victorious  armadas  to  the  stately  ensigns 
that  dressed  their  ships  in  the  harbor  "  —  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

Bryant  (Wm.  Cullen)  and  Gay  (Sydney  Howard). 

A  1'opular  History  of  the  United  States.     4  vols.     8vo.     111.     New  York,  1880. 
Carrington  (Henry  B.). 

I  tattles  of  the  American  Revolution.     Svo.     111.     712  pp.     New  York,  1876. 

Historical  and  military  criticism. 

Coffin  (Charles  Carleton). 

The  Story  of  Liberty. 

( >ld  Times  in  the  Colonies. 

The  Boys  of  '76. 

Building  the  Nation. 

The  Drum-Beat  of  the  Nation. 

Marching  to  Victory. 

Vivid  and  picturesque  presentations  of  different  phases  of  American  history. 
Cooke  (John  Esten). 

A  Life  of  (General  I.ee.     8vo.      111.     577  pp.     New  York,  1871. 
Comte  de  Paris. 

History  of  the  Civil  War  in  America.     Translated  by  Louis  F.  Tasistro.     Edited  by  Henry 

Coppee.     A  military  history.     2  vols.      Philadelphia,  1875. 

"  The  first  successful  attempt  to  give  a  full  and  careful  account  of  the  stupendous  conflict.'1  —  C.  K.  ADAMS. 

Cooper  (James  Fenimore). 

"  His  writings  are  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  nationality.  In  his  productions  every  American  must  take  an  honest 
pride.  For  surely  m>  one  has  succeeded  like  Cooper  in  the  portraiture  of  American  character  or  has  given  such  glow- 
ing and  eminently  truthful  pictures  of  American  scenery." — WM.  H.  PRESCOTT. 

NOVELS. 

Wept  of  Wish-ton-Wish,  1829. 
A  tale  of  King  Philip's  War. 

Last  of  the  Mohicans,  1826. 
Deals  with  Indian  participation  in  the  the  Old  French  War,  1756-60. 

Lionel  Lincoln,  1825. 
Laid  at  the  siege  of  lioston  and  Bunker  Hill,  1775. 

The  Spy,  1821. 

A  tale  of  the  Neutral  Ground,  1*70. 

"  A  portrait  from  life  of  a  revolutionary  patriot  who  was  willing  to  risk  his  life  and  subject  his  character  to  tempo- 
rary suspicion  for  the  service  of  his  country."  —  DUVCKINCK. 
The  Chain-Bearer,  1845. 
A  story  of  the  Revolution. 
Custer  (Elizabeth  B.). 

i:. nits  and  Saddle.      i2mo.     111.     312  pp.     New  York,  1885. 

Tenting  on  the  Plains.     General  Custer  in  Kansas  and  Texas.     Svo.     111.     702  pp.     New 
York,  1887. 
Dodge  (Theodora  A.). 

A  T.ird's-Eye  View  of  our  Civil  War.     Svo.     111.     346pp.     Boston,  1883. 


340  BEST  HUNDRED   BOOKS  ON   THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 

Drake  (Francis  S.). 
Memorials  of  the  Cincinnati.     8vo.     111.     565  pp.     Boston,  1873. 

The  best  and  most  comprehensive  history  of  the  Society. 
Drake  (James  M.). 

Fast  and  Loose  in  Dixie.     I2mo.     III.     310  pp.     New  York.  1880. 

Personal  experience  as  a  prisoner  of  war  at  Libby. 
Dunn  (J.  P.  Jr.). 

Massacre  of  the    Mountains:  a  history  of  the  Indian  Wars  of  the  Far  West.     Svo.     111. 

New  York,  1886. 

The  best  general  statement  and  story  of  the  later  Indian  Wars. 
Eggleston  (Edward). 

The  Household  History  of  the  United  States  and  Its  People  for  Young  Americans.     Svo. 

111.     396  pp.      Xew  York,  1889. 
Eggleston  (George  Cary). 

A  Rebel's  Recollections.      i6mo.     260  pp:     New  York,  1875. 
Fiske  (John). 

The  Critical  Period  of  American  History,  1783-89.      I2mo.      111.     368  pp.     Boston,  1888. 

The  War  of  Independence.     161110.     200  pp.     Boston,  1889. 

Riverside  library  for  young  people. 
Fremont  (John  Charles). 

Memoirs  of  My  Life.     Chicago,  1887. 
A  personal  record  of  a  most  romantic  career. 
v  Garden  (Alexander). 

Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary  War.     Svo.     459  pp.     Charleston,  1822. 
Gay  (Sydney  Howard).     See  Bryant  (Win.  C.). 
Oilman  (Arthur). 

A  History  of  the  American  People.     I2mo.     111.     66S  pp.     Boston,  1883. 

"  On  its  own  ground  and  for  its  clearly  denned  purpose,  we  have  nothing  as  good  and  are  not  likely  to  have."  — 
The  Independent.  t 

Gilmor,  (H). 

Four  Years  in  the  Saddle. 
\f  Gilmore  (James  R.).     "Edmund  Kirkc." 

The  Rear  Guard  of  the  Revolution.      121110.     111.     317  pp.     New  York,  iSS6. 

A  history  of  events  that  took  place  chiefly  in  North  Carolina  and  Eastern  Tennessee. 
Glazier  (Willard  W.). 

Heroes  of  Three  Wars.      I2mo.     111.     450  pp.      Philadelphia,  1882. 
Grant  (Ulysses  S). 

Personal  Memoirs.     2  vols.     Svo.     111.     New  York,  1885-86. 
Greeley  (Horace). 

The  American  Conflict,  1860-64.     2  vols.     Royal,  Svo.     Hartford,  1864-67. 

Rather  more  political  than  military. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  as  it  is  quite  the  most  interesting  of  the  numerous  accounts  of  our  great  civil  con- 
test."—  C.  K.  ADAMS. 
y  Hale  (Edward  Everett). 
'          How  the  War  (Revolution)  Began.     Svo.     40  pp.     Boston,  1875. 

A  series  of  sketches  from  original  authorities. 
jt  Halpine  (Charles  Graham). 

Life  and  Adventures,  Songs,  Services  and  Speeches  of  "  Private  Miles  O'Reilly."     47th  Regi- 
ment. N.  Y.  Volunteers.     New  York,  1864. 
Hamersly  (T.  H.  ^.). 

Complete  Army  and  Navy  Register,  1776-1887.     2  parts.     215  pp.  and  381  pp.      New  York, 

1888. 

A  full  collection  of  notes  upon  the  statiiatory  and  administrative  history  of  the  U.  S.  Army. 


BEST  HUNDKl-'D   BOOKS  ON  THE  AMERICAN  SOLDIEK.  341 

Hay  (John).     See  Nicolay  (John  G.). 
Headley  (Joel  T.). 

The  Great  Rebellion.     Svo.     111.     Hartford,  1866. 
Washington  and  his  Generals.     i2mo.     111.     New  York,  1877. 
VHigginson  (Thomas  \V.). 

Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,     i^mo.     296pp.     Boston,  1870. 
Hildreth  (Richard). 

The  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  from  the  discovery  of  America  to  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  Congress.     Svo.     6  vols.     New  York,  1854-55. 
New  edition,  1879. 

"  Still  probably  the  most  valuable  single  work  on  American  History."— CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS. 
Ingersoll  (Charles  J.). 

Historical  Sketch  of  the  Second  War  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  Great  Brit- 
ain.    1812-15.     -  vo's-     8vo.      Philadelphia,  1845-49. 

••  With  all  its  faults  it  is  probably  the  best  history  of  the  War  of  1812  yet  produced."— CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS. 
"  Though  this  book  is  sketchy  and  rambling  it  shows  power." —  JUSTIN  WINSOR. 
Irving  (Washington). 

Life  of  Washington      5  vols.     Svo.     111.     N.  Y.,  1881. 
An  American  classic.     The  best  pictuie  of  the  great  patriot  and  his  times. 

Johnson-Buel. 

Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War.     Edited  by  Robert  Underwood  Johnson  and  Clar- 
ence Clotigh  Buel.     4  vols.      111.     Over  3000  pp.     New  York,  1888. 

The  greatest  work  on  the  War  for  Secession  ever  undertaken  in  this  country.     It  consists  for  the  most  part  of  con- 
tributions by  Union  and  Confederate  officers  based  upon  the  war  series  originally  published  in  the  Century  Magazine. 

Johnson  (Richard  W.). 

A  Soldier's  Reminiscences  in  Peace  and  War.     Svo.     111.     428  pp.     Philadelphia,  1886. 
Johnson  (Rossiter). 

A  short  History  of  the  War  of  Secession,  1861-1865.    '^vo-     552  PP-     Boston,  1888. 
The  best  and  latest  story  of  the  Civil  War;  concise,  impartial  and  entertaining. 
Keyes  (K.  D.). 

Fifty  Years  Observation  of  Men  and  Events,  Civil  and  Military.     New  York,  1884. 
Knox  (Thomas  W.). 

Decisive  Battles  since  Waterloo.     111.     New  York,  1888. 

An  excellent  work  by  a  picturesque  and  practical  writer.     Contains  accounts  of  the  Mexican  War  and  the  critical 
battles  of  the  Rebellion. 

Ladd  (Horatio  O.). 

History  of  the  War  with  Mexico.     New  York,  1883. 
A  brief  but  good  general  view  of  the  War,  convenient  and  satisfactory. 
Lanier  (Sidney). 

Tiger  Lilies.     New  York,  1867. 
"His  own  prison  experience  at  Point  Lookout,  Florida. 

W  Logan  (John  A.). 

The  Volunteer  Soldier  of  America.     Svo.     111.    706  pp.     Chicago,  1887. 
A  plea  for  the  militia  based  upon  its  services. 
The  Great  Conspiracy.     Its  Origin  and  History.     Svo.     111.    810  pp.     New  York,  1886. 

Long  (Amistead  L. ). 

Memoirs  of  Rol>ert  E.  Lee.     Svo.     707  pp.     New  York,  1886. 

Longfellow  (Henry  W.). 

Poems:     Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  Paul  Revere's  Ride,  Arsenal  at  Springfield,  Killed  at 
the  Ford. 


342  BEST  HUNDRED  BOOKS   ON   THE   AMERICAN  SOLDIER. 

Losing  (Benson  J.). 

The  Pictorial  Field  Book  of  the  War  of  18 1 2.      Long  Svo.     111.     1084  pp.     New  York,  1869. 

Hours  with  the  Living  Men  and  Women  of  the  Revolution.      I2ino.     HI.     239  pp.     New 

York,  1889. 

The  Pictorial  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution.     2  vols.     8vo.      III.     New  York,  1851-52. 

Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War.     3  vols.     111.      New  York,  1868. 

Popular  Cyclopaedia  of  United  States  History.     2  vols.     8vo.      111.     New  York,  1886. 

Lowell  (James  Russell). 

Poems.     Biglow  Papers  (First  Series),  Mexican  War,  Biglow  Papers   (Second  Series),  and 

Commemoration  Ode.     Civil  War. 
McClellan  (George  B.). 

McClellan's  Own  Story.     8vo.      111.     678  pp.     New  York,  1887. 

MacElroy  (John). 

Anderson ville.     Svo.     654   pp.     Toledo,  1879. 
A  story  of  Rebel  Military  Prisons. 

MacMaster  (John  B.). 

A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  from  the  Revolution  to  the  Civil  War.     5  vols. 

Svo.     New  York,  1883. 
Mann  ( Herman). 

The  Female  Review.     Small  410.     111.      267  pp.      Boston,  1866. 

Life  of  Deborah  Sampson,  the  female  soldier  of  the  Revolution. 

Marcy  (Randolph  B.). 

Thirty  Years  of  Army  Life  on  the  Border.     Svo.     442  pp.      New  York,  1866. 
Moore  (Frank)  Editor. 

The  Rebellion  Record.      i2mo.     111.     Svols.      New  York,  1861-69. 
Nicolay  (John  G.)  and  Hay  (John). 

Abraham  Lincoln:  A   History.      (Soon  to  be  republished  in  book  form  from  the  papers  in 
the  Century  Magazine.} 

A  masterly  study  of  the  man  and  his  times. 
Parton  (James). 

Life  of  Andrew  Jackson.     New  York,  1860. 
Parkman  (Francis). 

The  Pioneers  of  North  America.     8  vols.     Svo.      Boston.     New  Edition,  1880. 

"  In  the  '  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac  '  we  have  a  more  vivid  picture  of  Indian  life  and  warfare  a  hundred  years  ago  than 
is  to  be  found  in  any  other  work."  —  CHARLES  KENI>AI.I.  ADAMS 

Montcaim  and  Wolfe.      2  vols.     Svo.      Boston  and  London,  1884. 

"  Very  brilliant,  scholarly  and  valuable. "  —  CHARI.E-.  KENL/AU.  ADAM*. 
j^tPinkerton  (Allan). 

The  Spy  of  the  Rebellion.     Svo.      111.     688  pp.      New  York,  1883. 

A  true  history  of  the  spy  system. 

Plum  (William  R.). 

The  Military  Telegraph  during  the  Civil  War.      2  vols.     Svo.     111.     Chicago,  1882. 
Pollard  (E.  A.). 

Southern  History  of  the  War  for  Secession  (1862-66).     4  vols. 

The  best  Southern  History  of  the  War 
Read  (Thomas  Buchanan). 

Poems.     The  Wagoner  of  the  Alleghanies.      Philadelphia.  1862.      Poem  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  South.     Sheridan's  Ride.     (Poem  of  the  Rebellion.)     Philadelphia,  1867. 
Richardson  (A.  D.). 

The  Secret  Service,  the  Field,  the  Dungeon  and  the  Escape,  1865. 


BEST  HUNDRED   BOOKS   ON   THE   AMERICAN  SOLDIER.   '          343 

Ripley  (Eliz.  M.). 

brom  Flag  to  Flag.     i6mo.     296 pp.     New  York,  1889. 
A  wuman's  experience  of  the  Civil  War. 
Ripley  (Roswell  S.). 

The  War  with  Mexico.     New  York,  1849. 
The  best  military  History  of  the  War. 
Rodenbough  (Theo.T.). 

From   Kverglades  to  Canon  with  the  Second  Dragoons.     8vo.     111.     561  pp.     New  York 

1875. 

Uncle  Sam's  Medal  of  Honor.     8vo.     111.     New  York,  1886. 

A  sketchy  account  of  "  some  of  the  noble  deeds  for  which  the  U.  S.  Medal  of  Honor  has  been  awarded,  described 
by  those  who  have  won  it."  (iS6i-86). 
Roosevelt  (Theodore). 

The  Naval  War  of  1812.     8vo.     541  pp.     111.     New  York,  1883. 

Although  a  Naval  History  of  the  War  it  has  a  chapter  detailing  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans  in  a  masterly  manner. 
Sabine  (Ix>renzo). 

Biographical  Sketches  of  Loyalists  during  the  American  Revolution.     2  vols.     Boston,  1864. 

A  complete  and  suggestive  work  prepared  with  great  care  and  research. 
Scott  (Winfield). 

The  Memoirs  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott.     Written  by  Himself.     New  York,  1864. 
Sheridan  (Philip  Henry). 

Personal  Memoirs.     2  vols.     8vo.     111.     New  York,  1888. 
Sherman  (\Vm.  T.). 

Personal  Memoirs.     3  vols.     8vo.     New  York,  1875.     Revised  edition,  2  vols.     1886. 
Sprague  (J.  T.). 

( >rigin,  Progress,  etc.  of  the  Florida  War. 
Sumner  (Wm.  G.). 
Swinton  (William). 

Campaigns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  (1861-65). 

The  Twelve  decisive  Battles  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  1867. 

Andrew  Jackson.     American  Statesman  Series.      i6mo.     402  pp.     Boston,  1882. 
Taylor  (Zachary). 

General  Taylor  and  His  Staff.     With  Anecdotes  of  the  Mexican  War.     i2mo.    111.  284  pp. 

Philadelphia,  1848. 
Walker  (Francis  A.). 

History  of  the  Second  Army  Corps   in  the  Army  of   the  Potomac.     8vo.     111.     737   pp. 

New  York,  1886. 
Ward  (Wm.  H).  Editor. 

History  of  the  G.  A.  R.     In  records  of  its  members      8vo.     111.     624  pp.     San  Francisco, 

iS86. 
White  (Richard  Grant). 

Poetry  of  the  Civil  War.     Small  8vo.     New  York,  1866. 
Winsor  (Justin). 

Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America.     7  vols.     8vo.     111.     Boston  1884-89. 

A  monumental  work ;  a  library  of  information  for  the  student  of  American  History. 


INDEX. 


ALAMO,  The,  heroic  stand  at,  193. 

Allen's,  Ethan,  surprise  of  Ticonderoga,  82. 

Alvarado,  Pedro  de,  chivalrous  life,  41;  treachery  and 
death,  42. 

American  bravery  in  Mexican  War,  211,  215. 

American  loyalists  under  Cornwallis,  119. 

American  soldier,  molding  of,  66. 

Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  of  Massa- 
chusetts, 307  . 

Anderson,  Major  Hubert,  at  Fort  Sumter,  236. 

Andre,  his  bribe,  too. 

Andros,  Governor,  59. 

Anti-rent  war  in  New  York,  177. 

Anti-tax  rebellion  in  South,  or  Whiskey  Insurrection, 
'}>• 

April  i9th,  1775,  ever-memorable  to  Americans,  78. 

Appomattox  ends  the  Rebellion,  273. 

Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  Coronado's  exploration  of, 
47 

Arnold,  Benedict,  daring  of,  90;  his  defects  and  merits, 
105  ;  his  treason  fmstrated,  toX. 

Arnold,  Sir  Kdwin,  on  Walt  Whitman,  276. 

Arms,  first  shock  of  in  Mass.,  77. 

Army,  regular,  antagonism  to,  218;  routine  in,  221  ;  in 
Kansas  troubles,  227 ;  disposal  of  in  1861,234;  loy- 
alty of  privates  in,  234  :  after  rebellion,  280;  present 
state  of,  291. 

Asseola,  the  Seminole  chieftain,  173. 

Avila's,  Pedro  de,  expedition,  34  ;  his  rise  and  disgrace, 
35 ;  his  fatal  journey,  46. 

Aztec  and  Toltec,  war  training,  24. 

Aztec  worship  «f  Alvarado,  41. 

BACON'S  rebellion,  59,  67,  68. 
Bad  Axe,  battle  of,  172. 
Badajos  and  the  gold  of  Parita,  49. 
Baker,  Colonel,  at  Ball's  Bluff,  250. 
Balboa,  Vasco  Nunez  dc,  the  adventurer,  46;   his  dis- 
covery of  the  Pacific,  •((>:  death  of,  49. 
Bancroft's  praise  of  "  Provincials,"  75. 
Bank  mobs  in  Maryland,  178. 
Barton,  Capt.  Win.,  kidnaps  British  General,  115. 
Bassinger,  Lieutenant,  bravery  of,  at  Dade's  massacre, 

"75- 

Beauregard,  General,  on  Confederate  troops,  252. 
Bell,  Lieutenant,  duel  with  Apaches.  222. 
Bennington   earthworks  stormed   by   the   militia,   101 ; 

farmers  at,  deceive  aud  conquer  Hessians,  102. 


Berkeley's  fight  against  Bacon,  60. 

Bienville's  successful  direction  of  colonial  war-spirit,  60. 

"  Biglow  Papers,"  The,  see  Lowell. 

"  Birdofredom  Sawin,"  see  Lowell. 

Black,  Alexander,  on  Indian  threats  in  Ohio,  132. 

Black  Hawk  War,  170,  176. 

Bladensburg,  the  defeat  at,  151 

Bloody  Marsh,  battle  of,  63. 

Boston  Massacre,  68. 

Bragg,  General,  resigns  in  1856,  221. 

Brant's  ambush,  134. 

Brattle,  Wm.,  letter  to  Gov.  Gage,  78;  his  warning  too 
late,  79. 

Bravo,  General,  and  his  cadets  at  Chapultepec,  197. 

Brooklyn,  remarkable  battle  at,  96 ;  Washington's  mas- 
terly retreat  from,  92. 

Hrust,  Major,  on  the  militia  of  the  present,  307. 

Bryant's  poem,  "  Marion's  Men,"  107. 

Burgoyne's  defeat  at  Saratoga  due  to  militia,  101. 

Buena  Vista,  battle  of,  200 ,  importance  of,  206. 

Bull  Run.  battle  of,  245;  its  effects,  233. 

Bunker  Hill  tests  courage  of  Minute-man,  86. 

Btirnside,  General  A.  E.,  as  commander  of  Rhode 
Island  militia,  218;  his  Ion..:  ride,  226. 

CADETS  of  Massachusetts,  First  Corps,  The,  308. 

Canadian  revolt  of  1839,  177. 

Caonabo,  the  "  Lord  of  the  Golden  House,"  Ojeda's 
search  for,  39,  40. 

Casteneda.  Pedro  de.  chronicler  of  Coronado's  wander- 
ings, 45. 

Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  evacuates  N.  Y.  city,  121. 

Centennial  parade  of  iXfy,  the,  295. 

Charlevoix's  verdict  on  Ojeda,  41. 

Champlain  and   Frontenac,  valiant  captains  of  France, 

57- 

Chevy  Chase  and  Lexington  compared,  82,  83. 
Chippeway,  verdict  of  English  officers  on  bravery  of 

Americans  at,  160. 

Church,  Capt.  Benj.,  conqueror  of  King  Philip,  59. 
Civil  disturbances  following  Revolution,  126. 
Cincinnati,  society  of,  The,  298. 
Clarke,  Geo.   Rogers^saved   western  frontier  to  U.  S., 

114. 

Cobb,  Gen.,  bravery  at  Taunton,  129. 
Coffin,  Charles  Carleton,  on  "  Driftwood  Soldiers,"  252. 
Congress  grants  Washington  power  as  General  of  the 

U.  S.  to  raise  an  army,  100. 


345 


346 


lA'DEX. 


Congnistadores,vy\\a.i\\.  and  picturesque,  56:  how  they 
won  the  name,  55  ;  their  sad  fates,  47,  48.  ^ 

Continentals,  braver}'  of,  108. 

Con  way  Cabal,  in,  113. 

Colonists  and  King,  strained  relations  between,  79. 

Colonists,  the,  fighters  of  necessity,  57. 

Colonial  army,  size  of  in  171)1  century,  70. 

Colored  troops  at  Olustee,  270  ;  in  regular  army,  288. 

Columbus  and  Cabot  followed  by  Spanish  hidalgos,  33. 

Cooke,  General,  on  Kansas  troubles,  228. 

Cornwallis,  verdict  on  Marion,  107. 

Coronado,  Francisco  V'asquez  de,  "  Conqueror"  of  New 
Mexico;  character,  42:  his  expedition,  46;  his  cre- 
dulity, 45,  beloved  by  his  men,  45  ;  in  Mexico,  45. 

Cortez,  voyage  to  New  World,  31,  41 

Courage,  Indian  proof  of  by  change  of  name,  20. 

Courage,  national  its  steady  development  in  war  of 
1812,  160 

Crispus  Attucks  and  British  soldiers,  67. 

Culpepper's  revolt,  67. 

Custer,  General  George  A.,  his  character,  287;  his  last 
stand,  288. 

Cutter,  Elbridge  Jefferson,  poem  on  the  response  to 
the  call  to  arms  of  1861,  238. 

DADE,  Major,  massacre  of,  174. 

Damon  and  Pythias  find  parallels  among  Indians,  24 

Darien,  Avilas  landing  at,  48 

Davis,  Jefferson,  as  Secretary  of  War,  221 ;  on  Bull  Run, 

245 

Dearborn.  Port,  now  Chicago,  massacre  at,  145. 

Dearth  of  leaders  in  War  of  1812,  148,  149. 

Declaration  of  Independence  pushes  "  Conway  Cabal  *' 
out  of  sight,  in. 

De  Lancey's  Loyal  Light  Horse,  119. 

De  Peyster,  hero  of  King's  Mountain,  120. 

Deserters  at  Bull  Run  and  Shiloh,  253. 

De  Soto,  Hernando;  his  expedition,  35.  his  hard  for- 
tunes, 35,  36;  heroic  march,  51,  52,  his  burial  and 
failure  of  expedition,  54. 

Detroit,  surrender  of,  145. 

Dix,  General,  his  celebrated  order,  237 

Domphan's  march  into  Chihuahua,  210;  valor  of  his 
soldiers,  214. 

Dorr's  Rebellion,  177. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  captured  by  British,  77. 

ELLSWORTH'S  ZOUAVES,  229. 
Ellsworth,  death  of,  244;  at  Alexandria,  250. 
Enciso,  Martin  Fernandez  de,  expeditions  of,  49. 
English  generals  inferior  to  French  in  French  and   In- 
dian War,  75. 

Eric  the  Northman,  adventurer  more  than  soldier,  33 
Eutaw  Springs,  bloody  battle  of,  119. 

"  FENIAN   '  excitement,  280 

"  Fifty-forty  or  fight,"  178. 

Finch,  Frances  M  ,  poem,  "The   Blue  and  the  Gray," 

.I'M- 

First  Light  Infantry  Association  of  Providence,  308. 
Florida  (EasO,  hostilities  in,  167. 


Florida  Indians,  stories  of  treasures,  52. 

Floyd,  General,  as  Secretary  of  War,  234. 

"  Forced  volunteers,"  184. 

Fort  Brown,  bombardment  of,  194. 

Fortune,  ship,  brings  news  of  Treaty  of  Ghent,  166. 

France,  insults  of,  in  1798,  141. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  father  of  American  militia,  73. 

Frederica  and  Saint  Augustine,  hostilities  between,  63. 

France  and  England's  struggle  for  supremacy  in  New 

World,  57 

French  surrender  makes  America  English,  77. 
French  war  averted,  141. 
Pries'  Rebellion,  132. 
Frothingham's  story  of  Burgoyne's  futile  boast,  85. 

GA-GEH-DJO-WA  the  Seneca,  the  "  Henry  of  Na- 
varre "  of  America,  16 

Gaines,  General,  his  sortie  from  Fort  Erie,  155. 

Gage,  General ,  his  orders  to  tire  upon  colonists  when 
necessary  were  the  sparfc  to  the  tinder,  79. 

Gardiner,  Captain,  massacre  of,  175. 

Georgia  under  Oglethorpe,  Spanish  attacks  on,  63. 

Gettysburg,  Battle  of,  turning  point  of  the  Rebellion, 
256. 

Gibbons  at  Gettysburg,  257. 

Gil  Gonzales  and  treasures  of  Nicaragua,  49. 

Goliad,  massacre  at,  193 

Goss,  Warren,  on  drilling,  238;  on  Virginia  mud,  251. 

Governor's  Foot  Guards  of  Connecticut,  308. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the,  296,  300. 

Grant,  General  U.  S  ,  on  Mexican  soldiers,  197;  on 
"  tactics,"  216;  as  a  West  Pointer,  217;  at  Fort  Dim- 
elson,  248,  made  Major-General,  249,  at  Shiloh, 
249;  on  Battle  of  Shiloh,  249;  at  V'icksburg,  257: 
national  backing  of,  2(12. 

Graves,  Major,  at  battle  of  Frenchtown,  159. 

"Gray-beard  Regiment,"  the,  261. 

Greely,  Lieutenant,  see  Schwatka. 

Green  Mountain  Boys  capture  Ticonderoga,  84. 

Green,  General  Nathaniel,  91. 

Greenleaf's,  Colonel,  plucky  reply  to  Shays,  130. 

Grenville,  Sir  Richard,  proud  reply  to  Spanish  challenge, 
55- 

Grijalva,  and  the  tribute  of  Vera  Cruz,  49. 

Guzman,  Nuno  de,  fictions  of,  46;  his  "presents"  of 
New  Galicia,  49. 

HALE,  Edward  Everett,  on  Ethan  Allen's  challenge, 
84;  on  Battle  of  Lexington,  80. 

Halpine,  Charles  G.,  poem,  279. 

Hanks,  Lieutenant,  commander  of  Fort  Mackinaw  in 
1812,  143 

Harlem  Heights  and  White  Plains,  spirited  engagement 
at,  96. 

Harmar,  Gen.  Josiah,  sent  to  Ohio  to  "  discipline  In- 
dians," 133. 

Harrison,  General,  defeats  Tecumthe  at  Tippecanoe, 
137;  his  brave  reply  to  General  Proctor  at  defense  of 
Fort  Meigs,  156;  his  address  before  the  battle  of  Fort 
Wayne,  159. 


INDEX. 


347 


Hawley,  General,  on  colored  troops  at   Olustee,  170: 

successful  direction  of  Centennial  Exhibition  of  1876, 

290. 

Heath,  first  of  American  "  colonels,"  90. 
Henry,  General  James  B.,  "  the  hero  of  the  Wisconsin  " 

in  I'.lack  Hawk  War,  172. 
Hessian,  their  surrender   at  Trenton,  95,  98 ;    led  by 

Haum,  103. 

Hillsborough  Bay,  landing  of  De  Soto  at,  51. 
Hood,  Lieutenant,  his  bravery,  222. 
Houston,  General  Samuel,  at  San  Jacinto,  193. 

INDIAN,  war  his  second  nature,  15;  art  of  war,  25; 
records  of  bravery  incomplete,  30;  crude  war-weapons, 
30;  gives  place  to  Cunyiiistm/ares,  31  ;  warfare  after 
contact  with  white  man,  31  ,  patriotism  of,  54. 

Indian  fighters  in  the  army,  bravery  of,  285,  288 

Indian  threats  again-.!  Ohio  settlers,  132. 

Indian  troubles  after  1865,  282. 

Ingersoll,  British  collector,  forced  to  shout  for  "  Liberty 
and  property,"  81. 

Ingle  roysterings  in  Maryland,  67. 

Irving,  Theodore,  or  knight-errantry  in  New  World,  55 

Irving,  Washington,  verdict  on  Spanish  cavaliers  in  the 
New  World,  36 

.1  M  k><)N.  General  Andrew,  rktory  of  Tohopeka, 
150;  credit  due  for  the  one  victory  of  1812,  164;  mili- 
tary genius  of,  161,  164;  assumes  command  in  East 
Florida,  167;  quells  the  "  nullification  troubles,"  176. 

James,  William,  his  verdict  upon  American  troops  after 
battle  of  C'hippeway,  151. 

Jasper,  Sergeant,  nails  flag  on  Fort  Moultrie,  114 

Johnson,  Sir  John,  merciful,  116. 

Johnson.  Rossiter,  on  itattle  of  Shiloh,  249.  on  courage 
of  American  soldier,  273 

Johnson,  General-  Albert  Sidney,  paymaster  of  the 
army,  226. 

KANSAS  troubles,  227. 

Karlsefne's  fight  with  Indians  of  Vinland,  or  the 
"  skraelings,"  33. 

Kautz,  General,  on  the  "standing  army,"  291  .  on  de- 
cline of  military1  experience,  306 

Keane's  Highlanders  defeated  at  New  Orleans,  163 

Kieffer,  Harry,  on  discipline,  268 

Kilmer.  George  I.  ,  on  kindliness  of  Union  veterans,  301 

King's  Mountain,  Itattle  of,  108. 

Knox,  (General  Henry,  first  Secretary  of  War,  140; 
founds  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  298. 

Ku  Klux  Klan,  280,  281,  282 

LADD,  H.  ()  ,  on  Mexican  bravery,  211 

Lancaster  revolt,  125. 

Lee,  Charles,  jealousy  of  Washington,  112. 

Lee,  Sergeant  Ezra,  attempts  to  blow  up  the   British 

fleet,  115 

Lee,  R.  E  ,  General,  23$. 
\x  Feboure's  defeat,  72. 
Leisler,  Jacob,  of  New  York,  the  "  people's  governor," 

60 :  his  army  ;  his  strife  for  civil  liberty,  71. 


Lexington,  news  of  flies  fast,  83. 

Lincolu^Abraliam,  story  of  "  trainin'  times,"  184  ;  his 
first  inaugural,  232;  call  for  volunteers,  232,  259; 
death  of,  276;  second  inaugural,  304. 

Lincoln,  General,  marshals  army  of  Massachusetts 
against  Shay's  malcontents,  128;  his  bravery,  130. 

Little  Withlacoochee,  battle  of,  175. 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  praise  of  gallant  siege  of  Lewis- 
burg,  64;  on  military  spirit  of  colonists,  70. 

Logan's  praise  of  Franklin,  73. 

Longfellow's  picture  of  Miles  Standish,  58,  59. 

Lopez  the  filibuster,  229. 

Lnuisburg,  fall  of  fortress,  64. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  on  "raw  recruits,"  183;  on 
Mexican  war,  197,  210. 

Loyalists,  see  Tories. 

Lundy's  Lane  and  Chippeway,  150. 

Lyman,  his  victory  at  Lake  George,  72. 

Lyon,  General,  at  Wilson's  Creek,  250. 

MACGINNES'  victory  at  Fort  Edward,  72. 

Mackinaw,  Fort,  in  1812,  143 ;  surrenders  without  a 
blow,  144. 

Madison,  President,  forced  into  war,  148. 

Marcy,  General,  on  the  Regulars,  220 ;  courage  of  men 
during  his  celebrated  march,  225. 

Massachusetts  Sixth  in  Baltimore,  236,  337. 

Marion's  dash  and  bravery,  107,  108 

Mason,  Captain  John,  70. 

Maumee,  bloody  Indian  battle  of,  137,  138. 

Mauvi'la,  battle  of,  54. 

May  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  196. 

McMaster,  John  Bache,  on  Harmar's  army,  133. 

McMaster's,  Guy  H  ,  spirited  poem  on  the  "  Old  Con- 
tinentals," no,  in 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,  commands  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  247 ;  his  ability,  248. 

McCullough,  Hugh,  on  the  valor  of  the  American  sol- 
dier, 292. 

Meads,  General,  puts  down  Fenian  Invasion,  281. 

Meigs,  Fort,  defense  of,  146,  156. 

Mendoza's  wrath  aga:i<st  Coronado,  47. 

Mexican  Army,  bravery  of,  197,  211. 

Mexico,  war  against.  191,  196,  198,  209,  215;  not  a 
"  Southerner's  War,**  215. 

.Ifikati,  the  Indian  war  dance,  20. 

Militia,  dwindles  down  during  Revolution,  100;  laws 
governing  service  in,  178;  caricaturing  the,  186,  187, 
188.  efficiency  of  after  Mexican  war,  219;  value  of, 
307;  strength  of,  307  ;  length  of  service  of  certain 
regiments  and  companies  of,  307  ;  morale  of,  308. 

Militia-men's  gallantry,  72  ;  on  Plains  of  Abraham,  74  : 
readiness  of,  229. 

Miller,  Colonel  James,  his  gallant  storming  of  battery 
at  Lundy's  Lane,  155 

Military  duty  in  the  provinces,  69 

Minot,  Captain  of  Concord,  asked  to  warn  his  company 
to  meet  at  "One  Minute's  Warning,"  78. 

Minute-men,  preparations  of  and  alertness,  77,  79; 
often  turned  tide  of  battle,  101 .  at  Lexington,  82  ; 
their  character  and  training,  89. 


34* 


INDEX. 


Monette,  Dr.,  on  De  Soto,  51. 

Montcalm,  his  "  struggle  against  destiny,"  75  ;   action 

before  Quebec,  76 

Montezuma's  defeat  due  to  Spanish  arquebuse,  30. 
Montgomery,  death  of,  96. 
Montreal,  fall  of,  77. 
Morales  and  spoils  of  Pearl  Island,  49. 
Mormon  troubles,  176. 

Moultrie's  heroic  defense  of  Charleston,  96. 
Mound  Builders;  battle  of  earliest  American   soldier, 

'3. 

Mulligan,  Colonel,  at  Lexington,  Mo.,  250 
Mun-dua  Indians  besieged  by  Ojibways,  26-29. 
Muster  day,  179 

NAME,  change  of,  Indian,  proof  of  courage,  20. 

National  Guard,  organization  of,  219;    strength  of,  307. 

Navy  surpassed  army  in  War  of  1812,  152. 

Newburg  address  voiced  soldiers'  discontent ;  Washing- 
ton's firmness,  124. 

New  France,  governors  of,  75, 

New  Galicia,  "  Presents"  of,  49. 

New  Mexico,  Coronado,  conqueror  of,  42. 

New  Orleans,  greatest  battle  of  1812,  160,  165. 

Niagara,  Fort,  captured  ;  Buffalo  destroyed,  146. 

Nicaragua,  treasures  of,  49. 

Niceuesa,  Diego  de,  expedition  of,  34;  his  romantic 
history,  36. 

North  Bridge  at  Concord,  America's  Rubicon,  82. 

"  Nullification  Troubles"  of  1832,  176 

Natchez  Indians,  military  schools,  found  among,  24. 

OCT.    7,    1765,   an    historic    date;    protest    of    people 

against  F.ngland's  tyranny,  81. 
Officers  in  command  of  minute-men,  gt. 
Officers  of  Revolution,  glance  at  valiant,  113,  114 
Ogdensburg,  defense  and  fall  of,  146 
Oglethorpe,  James  Edward,  most  heroic  fighting  gov- 
ernor, 59;  brilliant  investment  of  St.  Augustine,  61  , 

attack  on  Spanish  fleet,  63 
Ohio,  beacon  of  the  Mound  builders,  11 
Ojeda,   Alonso  de,  companion   of  Columbus,   39:    Ins 

armament,  34;  his  life,  49;  death  of,  35. 
Ojibways  conquer  Mun-duas  and  incorporate  their  tribe, 

29. 

Oliver,  stamp-master  in  effigy,  81. 
Olustee,  Battle  of,  270. 

Omahas,  military  life  of,  16 ;  military  education  of,  24 
O'Neil,  private  John,  faithful  to  his  post  at   Havre  de 

Grace,  158. 

Orange  riots  of  1871,  291. 
Onskany,  most  picturesque  battle   of  the  Revolution. 

101,  104. 

Orviedo  on  De  Solo's  love  for  killing  Indians,  54 
Osceola,  see  Asseola. 

Pacific  Ocean,  Balboa's  discovery  of,  39. 

Packenham,    Sir     Edward,    leader   in    battle   of    New 

Orleans,  161. 
Palo  Alto,  Battle  of,  195. 
Parita,  gold  of,  49. 


Patriot  army  of  the  Republics  of   New  Granada   and 

Venezuela,  167. 
Patterson   and  Armstrong  harry  settlers   in  Wyoming 

Valley,  127. 

Pawnees,  Ponka  vengeance  upon,  17-24. 
"  Paxton  Boys  "  march,  68. 
Pearl  Island,  spoils  of,  49. 
Pedrarias'  (Avilas')  vengeance  on  Balbua,  49. 
Pension  policy  of  the  United  States,  301. 
Pepperell,  William,  of  Maine,  earliest  native  general, 

61 ;   commands  land  forces  against  Canada,  63  :    first 

American  general,  64. 
Percy's  land  troops  go  out  by  "  Yankee  Doodle,"  come 

back  by  "  Chevy  Chase,"  82. 
Peyronney  and  his  valiant  colony  men,  73. 
Philip  of  Pokanoket,  army  against,  71. 
Philadelphia  City  Cavalry,  first  troop,  308. 
Picket  Line,  the,  ^5j. 
Pickett's  charge  at  Gettysburg,  257. 
Pike,  General,  invasion  of  Canada,  141,  155. 
Plnitsburgh  and  Burlington  plundered  by  British,  146. 
Ponce  de  Leon's  voyage,  34;  his  death  and  epitaph,  35. 
Porter,  General,  on  close  of  rebellion,  274. 
Prescott,  W.  H.,  on  Alvarado's  character,  42. 
Prescott,    Colonel     William,    his    notable    figure    and 

bravery  on  Copp's  Hill,  91. 
Princeton,  raw  iroops  at,  104. 

Proctor;  Winchester's  men  refuse  to  surrender  to,  157. 
"  Provincials,"  bravery  in   storming   San   Lazaro   for- 
tress, 72. 
Puinam,  Israel,  modern  Cincmnatus,  94. 

Quebec,  Wolfe's  assault  on,  76. 
Quebec,  Aino'.d's  assault  on,  9^. 
Quitman  at  San  Helen  gate,  196. 

RAILROAD,  strikes  of,  1877,  290. 

Rebellion,  The,  heroes  of,  268,  272. 

Red  Bird,  Sioux  chief,  surrender  of,  170. 

Regular  army  in  Revolution  deserving  of  honor,  108. 

Remington,  Frederick,  on  colored  troopers,  288. 

Renan's  verdict  on  antiquity,  14 

Renme's  dash  on  the  breastworks  at  New  Orleans,  163. 

Resaca  de  la  Palma,  Battle  of,  193 

Resistance  to  British  tyranny  breaks  out  in  various 
forms,  8 1 

Revere's,  Paul,  ride  described  by  Longfellow,  So. 

Revolution  ended.  Makes  the  I"  in  ted  States  a  nation, 
120 

Revolutionary  army  disbanded,  122.  125. 

Revolutionary  war,  cost  of,  123 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  sharp  criticism  on  conduct  of 
War  of  1X12,  145,  on  cause  of  defeat  in  1812,  151  , 
description  of  battle  of  New  Orleans,  162,  163. 

Roxbury  boy's  prophecy  of  Lord  Percy's  defeat,  S> 

Ruggles,  Timothy,  commander  of  "  Gentleman  Volun- 
teers '  of  Boston.  1 u> 

SAILOR,  American,  redeemed  the  cause  of  1812,  lost 

by  soldier,  152. 
Sanders,  Lieutenant  William  P   his  long  ride,  22^1. 


1\DEX. 


349 


San  Jacinto,  Battle  of,  193. 

Saratoga,  Burgoyne's  defeat  at,  104. 

Schoolboys  of  New  York  as  paraders,  294. 

Schwatka  and  Greely,  value  of  services,  290. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  his  patience  and  persistence, 
150;  commands  in  Black  Hawk  war,  171  ;  in  "  Nulli- 
fication troubles,"  176;  made  general  of  the  army, 
189  ;  escapes  from  Santa  Anna,  199, 207  ;  commander 
of  army  in  Mexico,  206  ;  his  march  on  Mexico,  207, 
209;  commander-in-chief,  220;  his  loyalty  in  1861, 
236  ;  after  Bull  Kim,  245  ;  resigns,  247. 

Secretaries  of  war  between  1789  and  1812,  140. 

Seminole  war,  168,  173,  176. 

Seventh  Regiment  of  New  York,  308. 

Sevier,  John  and  Clarke,  Geo.  Rogers'  bravery  of  at 
battle  of  King's  Mountain,  108. 

Shay's  Rebellion,  128. 

Shell-heaps'  and  "  kitchen-middens' "  disclosures  of 
weapons,  15. 

Shepard,  Gen. ;  mistake  in  meeting  Shay's,  129. 

Sheridan,  General  Philip,  on  horrors  of  war,  311. 

Sherman,  General  W.  T.  and  his  cadets,  228  :  on  effects 
of  Bull  Run,  247;  on  Confederate  defeats  at  Gettys- 
burg and  Vicksburg,  260 ;  on  the  Schoolboy's  Parade, 
»94- 

Shiloh,  Battle  of.  248.  249. 

Shirley's  selection  c:f  William  Pepperell,  64. 

'Sixty-one,  days  of,  244. 

Skinner,  C.  M.,  on  Coronado's  expedition,  46. 

"  Skinners  "  and  Cowboys,  108. 

"  Skraelings,"  Indians  of  Vinland,  33. 

Soldiers  as  presidents,  29. 

Soldiers  of  1812  gradually  learn  steadiness  from  disaster. 
153. 

Soldiers  of  Revolution,  fail  to  receive  their  salaries, 
124- 

Soley,  Prof,  J  Russell,  on  fighting  qualities  of  Ameri- 
cans in  1812,  151  :  on  Mexican  war,  192,  210. 

Spanish  chivalry  in  New  World.  36. 

Spanish  fighters,  indomitable  valnr  of,  39 

Spirit  of  liberty  in  1776  in  North  and  South,  81. 

Smith  at  Contreras,  196. 

Smith,  General,  loyalty  of,  251. 

Smith,  John,  valiant  fighter,  59;  his  troubles  with  Gov. 
Wingfield,  67. 

St.  Clair,  Gen.  Arthur;  marches  against  Ohio  Indians, 
«33.  "34- 

St.  Joseph's  Island,  English  garrison  on,  under  Capt. 
Roberts,  143. 

St.  Ledger;  defeated  by  New  York  Dutchmen  under 
Herkimer,  104. 

Standing  army,  necessity  of  recommended  by  Congress, 
125;  arguments  for,  218,  225. 

StandUh,  Captain  Miles,  doughty  Puritan  fighter,  58; 
his  howitzer  "a  preacher,"  58;  his  challenge  to 
Indians,  59. 

Stannard's  charge  at  Gettysburg,  257. 

Stark,  Captain  John,  doughty  Indian  fighter,  91  ;  cap- 
tures Crown  Point,  72  ;  his  charge  on  the  Hessians, 
•  «3- 

Kencibles  of  Philadelphia,  308. 


Stephenson,  Dr.  Benjamin  F.,  originator  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  300. 

Strangers,  the  first  white,  sailors  rather  than  soldiers, 
33 

Stuyvesant,  Petrus,  most  picturesuque  governor  of  Col- 
onial times,  59. 

Sullivan's  raid  on  Six  Nations  in  1779,  116. 

Sweeney,  General  Thomas  W.,  leader  of  Fenian  In- 
vasion, 281. 

Sycamore  Creek,  Battle  of,  171. 

TACTICS  in  u*,  216. 

Tampico  veterans,  their  brave  sergeant  of,  196. 

Taylor,  General  Xachary,  commands  in  Mexican  War, 

194;    successes   in,    195;   at    Agua  Nueva,    199;    at 

Buena  Vista,  203,  206. 

Tecumthe,  defeats  Van  Home,  145;  defeated  by  Harri- 
son, 137;  his  death,  14'). 

Texas,  Republic  of,  efforts  toward  independence,  193. 
"  Thinking  bayonet  "  the,  no  place  for,  227. 
Thompson,  Maurice,  on   Sp.ini-li  greed  for  conquest, 

48 :  on  gentlemen-robbers,  56 :  on  Jackson  at   New 

Orleans,  163 
Thorvald  the  Viking,  death  near  present  site  of  Boston, 

33 
Ticonderoga,   defeat    at,   redeemed   by   Stark  and   his 

militia,  72 

Tip|>ecanoe,  battle  of,  won  by  Harrison,  137,  138,  139. 
Tipton,  Ensign,  his  bravery  at  Tippecanoe,  139. 
Tory  loyalty  to  King,  107,  108. 
Tories,  honor  due  to,  as  well  as  to  those  who  rebelled, 

no 

Train-bands,  development  of,  69. 
"Trainin*  time,"  see  Musters. 
Travis  at  the  Alamo,  193 
Troops,  U.  S.,  number  and  officers  of ,  from  1789-1800, 

140 

Truen-.an,  Maj.  Thomas,  59. 
Twiggs,  General,  surrenders  his  command,  235. 

UNITED  STATES  Army,  see  Army. 
Underbill's  army,  70. 

VACA,  Cabeza  de,  a  picturesque  tramp,  46. 

Valley  Forge,  hardships  of,  io<). 

Van  Arsdale,  Jack,  nails  American  flag  on  Battery  at 
New  York  above  retreating  British,  114. 

Van  Rensselaer,  Colonel,  his  bold  stand,  156. 

Vaughn's,  William,  brave  attack  on  I.ouisburg,  72. 

Vera  Cruz,  tribute  of,  49;  capture  by  Scott. 

Vicksburg,  turning-point  of  the  Rebellion,  256. 

Vinland,  discovery  of,  33. 

Volunteers  respond  to  President's  call  in  1861,  236,  247, 
259;  bravery  of  in  Rebellion,  257,  265;  classification 
of,  261 ;  cowardice  among,  266;  disbandment  of  after 
Rebellion,  275  ;  review  of,  276;  losses  of,  278. 

Veteran  soldier,  the,  comradeship  of,  296:  associations 
of,  298,  299,  300,  kindly  spirit  of,  301 

WA-BA-SKA-HA  the  Ponka,  story  of,  17;  his  heroic 
death,  24. 


35° 


IXDEX. 


Wa-kan-da,  protecting  spirit  of  the  Oniahas,  17. 

Walker,  William,  the  filibuster,  229. 

Wallace's  "  Fair  God,"  Alvarado  among  Aztecs  the 
hero,  41. 

War,  Indian's  second  nature,  15. 

War  of  1812,  mismanagement  on  American  side,  144; 
discouraging  defeats  in,  14^. 

Ward,  Artemas,  "  Commander-in-chief "  by  courtesy, 
91  :  his  coolness  in  Shay's  revolt,  130. 

Warren,  Joseph,  Roxbury  doctor,  noblest  victim  on 
Hunker  Hill,  ,,.. 

Washington,  Colonel,  march  to  Santa  Fe,  226. 

Washington,  George,  his  bravery  at  Braddock's  defeat, 
74;  appointed  ''generalissimo,"  S6 :  his  masterly 
retreat  from  Brooklyn,  88;  his  crossing  the  Delaware 
a  forlorn  hope,  eft ;  L<xlge's  comment  on  crossing  of 
Delaware,  99;  his  small  righting  force,  99;  and  Con- 
tinental army,  109;  enters  New  York,  122;  as  Lieu- 
tenant General,  141:  his  death,  142. 

Washington  elm,  the,  in  Cambridge,  S<>. 

Watertown,  Provincial  Congress  at,  issues  orders  for 
militia  to  be  ready  to  march  at  a  minute's  warning,  86. 

Wayne,  General  Anthony,  his  nicknames,  n;;  takes 
command  of  Legion  of  United  States,  134,  135:  his 
defiance  of  Great  Britain,  13*. 

West  Point,  military  academy  at,  2i*>. 


"  Whiskey  Insurrection "  met  by  Washington  and 
"  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,"  131. 

Whitfield's  comment  on  Oglethorpe's  marvelous  de- 
fense of  Georgia,  63. 

Whitman,  Walt,  on  Lincoln,  277. 

White  Wolf,  the  Apache  chief,  his  duel  with  Bell  and 
his  soldiers,  222. 

Wilkeson,  Bayard,  the  "  Sidney"  of  the  Rebellion,  272. 

Wilkinson,  General,  his  imbecility  denounced  by  Scott, 
146. 

Wilson's  Creek,  Battle  of,  250. 

Winchester's  defeat,  146. 

Winnebago  War,  170. 

Wisconsin,  battle  of,  The,  172. 

Wolfe,  General,  at  Quebec,  75;  heroic  death  of,  76. 

Wool,  Captain,  bold  charge  at  Fort  George,  157. 

"  World  Turned  Upside  Down,"  quickstep  sounded  by 
British  troops  at  surrender  of  Yorktowu,  121. 

Worth,  General  Thomas,  ends  the  Seminole  War,  174. 

Wyoming,  brutality  of  Pennsylvania  to  New  England 
.settlers,  127. 

YO.RKTOWN,  surrender  of,  121. 
ZUN'I,  "  Priesthood  of  the  Bow,"  24. 


"  Mi.  Elbridge  S.  Brooks  possesses  the  talent  of  story-making.  He  reads  a  hundred  books 
to  get  the  material  for  his  tale,  and  then  gives  us  a  continued  narrative  of  the  one  ideal  man 
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cloudy  or  unsatisfactory,  but  clear  and  definite,  each  of  its  own  kind."—  The  Critic. 

Uniform  with  the"  Story  of  the  American  Soldier" 

I.  — THE   STORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN    INDIAN. 

HIS   ORIGIN,   DEVELOPMENT,    DECLINE   AND   DESTINY. 

BY  ELKRIOCK  S.  BROOKS. 

One  volume,  8vo,  cloth,  fully  illustrated,  $2.50. 

This  volume  is  precisely  what  its  title  implies :  the  Story  of  the  American  Indian.  It  has  no  pet  theory-  to  advocate ; 
it  offers  no  solution  tojhe  so-called  Indian  problem.  It  is  simply  an  attempt  to  gather  and  place  in  something  like 
consecutive  order  the  facts  of  the  Indian's  rise,  progress,  decline  and  present  condition.  It  tells  in  simple,  earnest, 
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II.  — THE  STORY   OF   THE  AMERICAN   SAILOR. 

IN    ACTIVE   SERVICE  ON   MERCHANT  VESSEL   AM)   MAN-OF-WAR. 

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\o  better  description  has  ever  been  written  of  John  Paul  Jones'  famous  fight  than  may  be  found  here."  -  San 
Francisco  Chronicle. 


1    15 


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